


Dead to Rights: Blood Money

by The_Head_In_Charge



Category: Dead to Rights (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assassins & Hitmen, Canon-Typical Violence, Corruption, Crime Drama, Crime Thriller, Crimes & Criminals, Detective Noir, Dogs, Explicit Language, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Feelings Realization, Film Noir, Fugitives, Gen, Master/Pet, Mystery, No Slash, Organized Crime, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Police, Prison, Re-imagining, Reimagining, Retelling, Revenge, Suspense, Thriller, Vigilantism, dirty cop, escaping prison, old flame, police dogs, rekindling old feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:35:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28004772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Head_In_Charge/pseuds/The_Head_In_Charge
Summary: An alternate take on the original game. A reimagining, if you will.Grant City cop Jack Slate sets out to find who killed his father, but is then framed for murder. He sets out to look for the people who did it. Are things what they seem?
Relationships: Jack Slate & Frank Slate, Jack Slate & Original Male Character, Jack Slate & Shadow, Jack Slate/Hildy Razwell, Jack Slate/Ruby





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone. I would like to talk about this story that I am about to do. Lately I had been watching some videos on YouTube related to the old video game series known as "Dead to Rights." This will be a re-imagining, maybe an alternate continuity based on the first game, with elements from the second game (because it was a prequel) added in. It's going to be more like a crime thriller, with action, mystery, and some suspense thrown in. I also want to give this a grittier feel than how the games were.
> 
> Why am I doing this? Well, let me start by saying that I loved the first game when I was younger. I never played the sequel (or prequel as it's stated to be), but watched the walkthrough. However, as much as I loved the first game when I was younger, I will say that the story was a total mess and there were a lot of issues with the writing. There were even some good points made from the commentary on the Let's Plays for it.
> 
> Also, I have not played "Dead to Rights: Retribution," but I did watch the entire walkthrough and I may buy it at some point. Seeing as that game was a reboot and had no ties to the games from the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube era, I will try seeing about maybe implementing some characters if they could work, but this will be more in line with the other continuity, even though it will be an alternate take on the first game.
> 
> One other thing, I also found out that there was a comic book that tied into the first game. I didn't know of its existence until not too long ago and went ahead and ordered and have since read it. So I might use some characters from that as well.
> 
> If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in a review. That's all for now, enjoy!

_Grant City, hardest place on Earth. People aren't born here, they're forged out of broken bones and blood money. Fortunes are lost and found on a daily basis, and if you're not one of the lucky finders, you're probably dead._

_That's not to say there's no justice here. It's just hard to reach sometimes under the layers of crime and corruption, the stretch between the gutter and the glamour._

_It was another gray autumn. The leaves were changing from "go green" to "caution yellow." Pretty soon they'll be "danger red," then "dead brown."_

The streets were somewhat empty. Grant City was crime-ridden wasteland. Not just externally, but it had been speculated that there was a lot of corruption in different areas in the city.

There was a time when Grant City was a peaceful place to live. For years, it wasn't the case. Gangs ran the streets, fought for supremacy in ruling the city. Drugs being pushed, illegal arms were being sold, among many other crimes being committed.

It was a dark night in Grant City. Jack Slate, a young police officer assigned in the K-9 unit with his partner Chris Jones, an African-American police officer in the Grant City Police Department. The other person in their party was Shadow, a Malamute/Wolf hybrid who was also Jack's personal pet but was signed up for the K-9 unit.

"So tell me something, Jack," Chris said. "Do you ever wonder if you're cut out for any line of work for this? Or even leaving this shithole of a city we're in?"

"Good question, Chris," Jack said as he drove his squad car around the streets. "I sometimes even wonder why I'm still a cop when my old man was thrown off the force, and I know my old man was and is a cop."

"Yeah, well, at least your old man is still doing his thing even as a private detective," Chris said. "I know my old didn't have shit to do with all of the drugs being sold out of his church, yet he is rotting away in Iron Point because the system is so fucking shitty."

"Your father is a good man, Chris," Jack said. "Even my dad figured that something was up when he got busted. But what can you do?"

"Exactly what I wonder everyday," Chris said. "I often try to go and visit my pops in jail every chance I get. I hear that Iron Point's warden is a real asshole. My pops had told me that the warden had given him shit. If only I had the money to bail him out and then we get the fuck out of here."

"Faith, Chris, faith, it's the only thing we have right now," Jack said as he maintained focus on the road, but at the same time he sighed and had looks of mixed emotions on his face.

"I guess you're right, man," Chris said and looked towards his partner. "Anyway, man, what's up with you? You seem kind of stressed right now. Is everything going okay with Ruby?"

"Ruby and I are trying to work stuff out," Jack said. "We've been getting along, but sometimes she wants a little excitement in her life. It's like she doesn't want to commit. It's hard when I somehow get attached to my CI."

"It's never a good idea to date or fuck around with your CI," Chris said.

"Yeah, I know," Jack said. "But like I said, we got close and she has been helping me with stuff. She also had been using some of her expertise in her line of work at the Den of Iniquity and the Blue Fly."

"The Den of Iniquity?" Chris said. "That strip club? Also, the Blue Fly? What does she do to help you?"

"I have been curious about some stuff going on over there ever since Augie Blatz had gotten my dad thrown off the force," Jack said. "She may work as a dancer at both places, but she is doing this for me."

"You better hope that she is doing a good job at helping you," Chris said. "I know Augie Blatz helps out with the community, but I know that guy is shady as fuck."

"I'm not worried," Jack said. "My old man had tried to take him down so many times, but Blatz has his ways."

 _"Attention, all units in the area, we have a 210.5 at a supermarket,"_ said the voice on the police radio. _"Shots fired, but no reports of fatality or injury. Suspect had been reported holding customers hostage and possible bomb threat at hand. Please approach with extreme caution."_

"Slate and Jones here, we'll check it out," Jack said though a police radio and hung up. "Well, looks like we got a problem on our hands, let's go check it out,"

"Right on," Chris said.

Jack set up the siren and the lights flashed at the top of the car. The two officers were on their way, even though this may seem like an issue beyond their reach. It also felt like these two cops were the first to respond to the report. Not that it mattered, as it was just another night for the two GCPD officers, as well as Shadow.

The squad car pulled up. Many other cops were all on the scene. One cop had a bullhorn in his hand.

 _"Listen, if you let the innocent civilians go, we promise we can work out a deal,"_ said the cop on the bullhorn. The cop was Inness, one of Grant City's police captains.

From the inside, it looked like the lights were shut off. Many lights from the squad cars present on the scene glared on the windows, as well as headlights from some of the police vehicles. If that wasn't enough, even a couple of news vans were seen, with Kip Waterman, one of Grant City's well-known broadcast journalists.

Jack pulled up a little far from the scene.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Chris said.

"Can't say it is, but when has that stopped us?" Jack said.

"Good call," Chris said. "So what do we do?"

"We go in through the back," Jack said. "Shadow can tail one asshole, I go after one guy. You try to find others and cover me and then we get the hell out of there. Maybe you can try to get the hostages to safety"

Chris took a deep breath. "This better work."

The two officers stepped out of the vehicle. Jack went to the backseat to let Shadow out of there. It was night and dark outside. As the two officers approached the store to head to the back area, they went towards the crowd of people.

"…Grant City Police Captain Inness tried to reason with the captors, but they didn't comply," Kip said to the camera and saw Jack, Chris, and Shadow walking by. Kip quickly turned around and saw them approaching Inness.

Inness looked around and saw the K-9 officers approaching him.

"Slate, Jones, thank goodness you guys showed up," Inness said.

"How many people?" Jack said.

"What do you mean?" Inness said.

"How many hostages and what's the number of suspects?" Chris said.

"From what I understand," Inness said. "Four people are held at gunpoint by the main guy and it appears that he has a bomb on him. There are two other guys in there. Hennessey is on his way with the GAC squad."

"What? Hennessey's bringing in the GAC unit?" Jack said. "Fuck this, we're going in."

"Slate, as your captain, I don't think that's a good idea," Inness said. "I know you and Jones have your ways of handling things, but this isn't a good idea."

"Yeah, yeah, but we're not waiting for Hennessey to bring his goons," Jack said. "Come on, Chris, come on, Shadow."

The two officers and Shadow looked around for anybody who looked like they could work there. It wasn't long until they found a young guy with an apron. He looked to be in his late-teens to early-20s.

"Excuse me…," Jack said and saw the name tag. "Dan, do you know a way to enter the store through the back?"

"Sure, officers, follow me," Dan said.

The young grocery store worker led the two cops and police dog to the back. It wasn't long until they got there. They finally reached the shipping dock area where the trucks bring the inventory, as well as the freezer area for any of the foods that need to be kept cold.

"Thanks, Dan," Jack said.

"No problem, officers," Dan said. "Be careful. Those guys are dangerous."

The two officers were now inside. They had gone in through the storage area. The lights were off inside the store. The only light that was visible were the blue and red lights from the squad cars, headlights, and spotlights for the news crew. So it wasn't totally dark.

"What's our move?" Chris said quietly.

"Shadow will go and search the area for the scumbags," Jack said quietly. "I'll try to find the leader. You go and take down at least one of the guys. You and Shadow try to keep any hostages safe if they're alive."

Chris nodded his head. The two officers then split up, while Shadow crawled around the aisles to find anything suspicious. Jack snuck around to look for the ringleader of this operation. Chris slowly searched for anybody watching the aisles. There were other customers held at gunpoint. Some stood away in fear of what could happen. The person guarding that aisle held a SPAS-12 shotgun. Chris got out his GLOCK 22 and had a suppressor at the end of the barrel.

"Drop it," Chris said. "GCPD."

The terrorist holding the people hostage in the aisle dropped his shotgun.

"You won't hurt me," the man said.

"Oh yeah? Why not?" Chris said.

"Because you're a cop, and there are rules for cops," the man said.

"Yeah, that's what my captain keeps telling me," Chris said.

The terrorist quickly reached for a sidearm he had in his arsenal. Chris did hesitate to shoot him in the arm and for the leg. But the man did not want to cooperate. He swung his left hand right to Chris's gut and tried to throw an elbow right to his face. But Chris quickly ducked and elbowed the man right in the gut and kicked the man in his left calf and drove the man's face right to a shelf and shoved him to the floor.

"You're under arrest," Chris said. The terrorist held his arms up. Chris went ahead and cuffed the man.

Meanwhile, Shadow crawled through some of the aisles. He saw that these guys had put some explosives on the shelves. He reached out his right paw and pushed the bomb off of one shelf. He repeated the same process farther up the aisle. The dog noticed that the bombs had wires at the ends of the explosive units and the two bombs happened to be connected. He ducked his head down and gripped the wire with his teeth and hung the bombs from his mouth.

Shadow saw another guy holding some more shoppers hostage. Shadow growled quietly. It was enough for the man to turn around and see the dog right in front of him. Shadow dropped the bombs from his mouth and quickly sprang from his feet. He jumped right onto the man, with all four paws up against the man's body. Right when the man hit the floor, Shadow started to bite the terrorist. The hostages could not help but with this police dog go to work on this man. Even they were shocked at the sight of this.

The man yelled loudly, enough to draw some extra attention. From a distance, in the deli area was an African-American man dressed in black and had his hair done in cornrows and for some reason wore a pair of shades, despite that it was dark on the inside and outside. Of course, there was still the light from outside. He had to be the ringleader. He stood behind the counter with four people sitting before him, two of which were children.

"Don't you fucking move, got it?" the leader said.

The leader walked out with a Mossberg 500 shotgun. As soon as he walked out into the store a little more, he was met with a GLOCK 22, with a suppressor and also to someone saying "Freeze." The leader went full-stop. He glanced to his right. It was Jack.

"Okay, you got me," the leader said. "Or do you?"

The leader opened up his jacket and quickly pulled out something that resembled a gun, except it wasn't. It had a clock on it, as well as a red button and a green button. The jacket opened more, revealing some explosives on his chest, causing Jack to widen his eyes a bit.

"Pop quiz, hotshot," the ringleader said. "Terrorist holding an entire store hostage, got enough explosives strapped to his chest to blow a building in half. Now what do you do?"

Jack was at a loss. Though Shadow had taken down some of the bombs, as did Chris, this man in front of him had some explosives strapped to his chest. The ringleader set the timer on the clock.

But out of nowhere, Chris and Shadow came out. Chris was strapped with his weapon. Shadow had undone more bombs that were in the store.

"You're surrounded, fucker," Jack said.

"Not likely," the ringleader said as he tossed the detonator in the air and started to run away.

"Jack, I'll get it," Chris said. "Go get him!"

The leader of the group started to run away. Shadow quickly went forth and chased after him and bit the man's right leg, causing him to drop forward. Jack caught up to the man and caught him as he was falling, as he didn't want to risk the explosives hitting the floor.

"You're under arrest, asshole," Jack said. "I'm taking your ass to jail."

"Fuck you," the leader said. "Don't fuck with the Scorpions."

Jack raised his arm and decked him right in the face.

"No, fuck _you_ ," Jack said and quickly got out his handcuffs.

It wasn't long until the hostages were freed and the three officers took two of the members of the Scorpions outside, while the other one was hauled off on a stretcher after what Shadow did to him.

Suddenly, a team of people in black uniforms and helmets with goggles and masks showed up. The vests read GAC on them. Then finally, an older cop walked up with the same type of uniform with a grizzled look and a mustache.

"Well, I'll be damned," the older cop said. "Slate and Jones, you took them down yourselves."

"Nice to see you, too, Hennessey," Jack said.

"Hennessey, these two took them down, you should give them some credit," Inness said as he stood between Jack and Hennessey.

"Inness, I had told you that I was going to bring the GAC unit to square things out," Hennessey. "You should have told these two cowboys to lay off. This was some heavier shit than what a couple of dog cops do."

"Excuse me, _Dick_ ," Jack said, addressing Hennessey by his first name. "But as an officer of the law, we are all supposed to respond to anything happening. Jones and I were not going to wait for GAC to come in. For all we know, the hostages wouldn't have made it if it weren't for Chris and I."

Inness cut in. "He's right, you know?"

Hennessey sighed. "Okay, Jack, you win this round. We'll talk more about this later."

Jack, Chris, and Shadow all walked away. More journalists were at the scene. A blonde woman ran up to Jack.

"Excuse me, Officer Slate," the blonde reporter said. "Marla Bales, GC News 40, tell me what went down."

Jack just kept walking but stopped and looked at the reporter.

"Sometimes you just need to respond to a crime that's going down, that's all I have to say," Jack said and continued to walk away with his two partners.

There was just something that didn't sit well with Jack when he dealt with Hennessey. Although he didn't agree with his own captain's methods, but Hennessey took a bit of time to get there before anything else would have gone down. It was time to relax after what they went through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the prologue. Chris is a completely original character, by the way. Like I said before, this is an alternate take on the original game, but I will include characters from the original, and implement some elements from Dead to Rights: Retribution, as I am aware that was a reboot.
> 
> Oh, and the ringleader was inspired by the bomber in the intro to the original game. The Scorpions was a gang from Dead to Rights II. I decided to combine them.
> 
> I also was inspired by some elements from Cobra (1986), Die Hard (1988), and Speed (1994) in some areas for this scene.


	2. The Aftermath

It was only an hour after thwarting the would-have-been terrorist attack at the supermarket. Thankfully, no one was hurt, at least not any of the innocent civilians who were held hostage. Jack had driven himself, Chris, and Shadow back to the precinct. Jack parked the squad car and the cops all exited. Jack and Chris told each other that they would see each other the following day as they really needed to rest from what they had gone through.

Jack guided Shadow to his gray Chevy Malibu. "Come on, boy," Jack said to the dog as he opened the backseat as Shadow quickly crawled and jumped into the car. Jack shut the door and walked around the back and the driver's side as he opened the door and sat down and started the car.

 _Just another night in Grant City._ Jack thought as he looked around. The city was full of crime as it was. It was once considered a peaceful place to live, but somehow the criminal element had skyrocketed in such a short amount of time.

After a while, Jack pulled up in front of an apartment building. As soon as he got out, he went to the door behind him and let Shadow out. Shadow quickly jumped out of the car and followed him inside the building. It had been quite a long day for Jack, but that was the price he had to pay for being a policeman. The criminal element had not stopped and it didn't look like it was going to end.

He had also thought about what his partner and friend had said. It didn't seem like the criminal element would stop if someone would go to a prison like Iron Point Penitentiary, as Chris's father was a religious man who helped out at a church, but was accused of selling drugs. Jack's father Frank even tried to help him out a bit, but there was nothing that could be done. Jack thought otherwise, however.

Jack and Shadow walked up the stairs to the second floor. They walked down the hallway and saw an attractive short-haired blonde woman standing by a door. She looked to be in her early-to-mid-20s and was definitely a stunner.

"Hey, Jack," the woman said.

Jack looked up and the image of the lady became clearer. "Ruby, what are you doing here?"

"I couldn't be at my place tonight," Ruby said. "I had to be safe. I've dealt with this creeper at the club."

"Which club?" Jack said.

"I was dancing at The Den of Iniquity tonight," Ruby said. "This guy had been getting a little fresh with me, even though I told him about the no-touching rule. He even sometimes comes around the Blue Fly if I am doing the go-go dancing over there. This guy is falling in love with me or some shit."

Jack scoffed and got out the key to his apartment and put it in the keyhole. "Really? What's his deal? Do I need to go over there and teach him a lesson sometime?"

"The guy is a regular," Ruby said. "But recently I found him following me to my apartment. He tried to tell me that he wanted to make sure that I made it home safely, and said that I owe him and pretend that he doesn't exist."

Ruby paused. "On the other hand, he _does_ pay and tip me well, so I can't complain _too much_."

Jack chuckled a bit and as they walked into the apartment. "Look, if you want me to set him straight, just let me know. You should have called me and told me you were coming by."

"I didn't know what else to do, and I will," Ruby said. "I guess I could have called you, but I figured you were out busting some bad guys."

Jack sighed. "Oh, you better believe it."

Ruby leaned in a bit. "I can see it. You look pretty stressed right now."

"I just busted some terrorists trying to blow up a grocery store," Jack said.

"What?! You were there?!" Ruby said with so much surprise in her voice. "I heard about that on my way here."

"Chris and I just happened to be close by," Jack said. "We took them all down, but we were also close to being blown the fuck up."

"Oh no, baby," Ruby said with some worry in her voice. She came close and put her right hand against his left cheek.

"You want me to make you feel better?" Ruby said.

"I think should go get some sleep," Jack said and took off his police jacket that said "K-9 Unit" on the back.

"Oh, come on, Jack," Ruby said. "I think you need to ease some of your stress and I know the way to do that."

Ruby wore a jacket and a button-down shirt and started unbuttoning her shirt, revealing some cleavage and a pink bra. She continued unbuttoning until her shirt was completely open and leaned in to kiss Jack on his lips.

"Come on, Jack, I'll make you feel better," Ruby said and held his hand and started walking, guiding him to the bedroom.

* * *

It was now the following day. Jack and Shadow had gotten into work at the precinct. Jack led Shadow to the police kennel and Jack went on his way inside the precinct. Ruby stayed over at Jack's place until she went to go handle other priorities, like going to school.

"Good morning, Jack," a female cop said as she passed by.

"Good morning, Powell," Jack said.

"Good job on what you and Jones did last night," Powell said.

"Thanks, have you seen Chris?" Jack said.

"He showed up not long ago," Powell said.

"Thank you," Jack said.

Jack walked around the precinct to get to his desk. He had gotten some thumbs up from fellow cops about the bust he and his partner made the previous evening. Some even applauded him, until he saw Chris coming towards him.

"Jack," Chris said.

"Chris, what's up?" Jack said.

"Hennessey is looking for you," Chris said.

"Why?" Jack said. "Is he still pissed that he didn't send his private army in and that we took down the terrorists?"

"I don't know, but the moment I got here, he said 'where's Slate?'" Chris said. "Captain Inness is talking with him. I heard something about how they want to get Chief Redwater here to talk about this."

"We busted some terrorists trying to blow up a supermarket," Jack said. "Tell me they don't think we violated a direct order?"

"I'm just telling you what I heard," Chris said. "Come on, let's go talk with Hennessey."

Jack and Chris walked across the precinct where many cops were at their desks. They reach a door that had something written on the window. It read "Inspector Dick Hennessey." Through the window, Inness was seen talking to Hennessey, who stood behind his desk. Hennessey looked up and saw the two officers standing and gave an aggressive "Come in" hand gesture to both of them.

"…Come on, don't you think you're being unfair here?" Inness said.

"Oh, spare me, Eddie," Hennessey said. "You really think that they didn't violate any protocol?"

"I'm just saying you're being harsh here, especially with your title as inspector," Inness said. "Granted, they went into the snake pit, but they got out, didn't they? They apprehended all the suspects."

"Yes, but one of them is complaining about Slate's fucking dog," Hennessey said.

Jack cut in. "Well if you think Shadow was just assaulting the guy, then what do you think the guy was going to do with those people inside the store?"

Hennessey turned to face Jack with a stern expression on his face. "Slate, you and Jones even defied Inness's orders to stay out and wait until I brought in the Anti-Crime unit to sort the shit out."

"As I said before, Hennessey, if we waited, those people would have been dead," Jack said. "Whether they would have been shot or blown to hell, we were not going to wait to risk any of that shit happening."

Chris added his input. "Slate and I went in quietly. Some of the aisles were rigged with bombs. Shit, that guy even had a fucking detonator and had bombs strapped to his chest. It didn't matter if we had gotten the bombs off of the shells, he was already prepared to blow shit up regardless."

"Shadow even helped out," Jack said. "He even took the bombs off the shelves."

Inness cut in. "Hennessey, even Mayor Pinnacle and Gloria Exner commended these two for their efforts last night. You should at least give them some credit."

Hennessey scowled the moment he heard the mayor's name, as well as Gloria Exner, who was also running for mayor in the next mayoral election.

Hennessey sighed. "Okay, if the mayor himself, as well as the candidate say that these two did a good job in their efforts, then maybe you're right that I'm being a bit too harsh on them."

"Okay, as long we are square on this," Inness said.

Inness, Chris, and Jack started to walk away to leave Hennessey's office.

"Hold on, Slate, I need to talk to you some more," Hennessey said.

Chris stood close to the door and looked back.

"Not you, Jones, I need to talk to Slate," Hennessey said. Jack signaled to his partner that he'll catch up to him in a bit. Chris left the office.

The door closed. Jack and Hennessey looked at each other in complete silence, at least for a few seconds.

"What's going on, Hennessey?" Jack said.

"Slate, I must apologize for my reaction," Hennessey said. "I think the reason I have a hard time trusting you is because ever since your old man got kicked off the force, I can't help but think that you would end up just like him, especially with your ways of busting perps."

"Hey, I know that my father did _not_ do any of the shit that got him kicked off," Jack said. "My dad is a good man and has a good head on his shoulders and even though he is not a cop anymore, he's still trying to make a difference in this city."

Hennessey stood there quietly for a bit, but then he said, "Your father was one of the best cops in the city, but he fucked up his career after the shit he it was said that he shot an unarmed man."

"He didn't do it," Jack said.

"That's what I was told, until the bullet matched his gun," Hennessey said. "I'm only telling you what I know. Now get out. I got things to look at."

Hennessey sat down. Jack turned around and got out of the office with a glare. Chris looked up and saw Jack coming his way.

"Jack, what's wrong?" Chris said.

"I'm just a little pissed right now," Jack said. "I'll tell you later. Let's go check out some stuff in town."

* * *

**LATER THAT DAY…**

It was now their lunch break. Chris took off to meet up with his girlfriend to have lunch somewhere, while Jack had a plan of his own. He rolled around in his squad car with Shadow in the backseat until he found a building around North 43rd Street. He found a building that had a sign on the window that said "Frank Slate, Private Investigator," and a phone number written under the name.

Jack turned to the backseat and said, "Come on, Shadow, let's go see how Dad is doing."

Jack parked the car and let Shadow out of the car as the dog followed him inside. The two went in through a foyer before walking in through a door and saw an attractive woman with shoulder-length auburn hair and had a headband on. She sat at a desk looking at something.

"Hey, Hildy," Jack said. The young woman looked up the moment she heard her name.

"Jack, what a surprise," Hildy said. Hildy Razwell was someone Jack knew from the past. They had quite a history together but things didn't work out.

"I was just in the neighborhood," Jack said. "Is Dad in his office right now?"

"Yeah, he is, but he is on the phone right now," Hildy said. "I don't think you should disturb him right now. It's a very important call."

"I won't be a bother to him, I'm his son, remember? I also brought Shadow along," Jack said as he walked towards the door that had Frank's name written on the window.

Hildy got up and went to pet the dog. "Hey, Shadow, remember me? I work for your grandpa," she said in a cute voice. "I'm sure Jack has told you a lot about me, hasn't he?"

Jack turned and looked back at Hildy petting Shadow. He looked at her and thought about the past. They have known each other since they were in junior high. They pretty much grew up together and even dated a bit. He sometimes wondered what went wrong with the two. It couldn't have been too bad if they were civil to each other at that moment. It wasn't long until Hildy was done and Shadow went back to Jack.

"Come on, boy, let's go visit Dad," Jack said as Hildy went back to her desk.

Jack saw his father through the window. Frank was an older man, in his late-50s with gray in his hair and a mustache. He had a suit on and a hat hung up on a rack. He was on the phone and looked up and saw Jack. There was even a poster that had read "Vote for Gloria Exner" and the picture was of an attractive blonde woman in her mid-to-late-30s at the least, maybe even her early-40s. He gave him the signal to come in. Jack walked into the office.

"…Okay, I will keep that in mind," Frank said on the phone. "I will go look at the site soon to give you some more info. Thanks, Ms. Exner."

Frank hung up the phone at his desk and saw Jack sit down in front of him.

"What a surprise, Jack," Frank said.

"I am on my break and just thought I'd drop by," Jack said. "Hildy told me you were busy."

"I was just on the phone with an important client of mine," Frank said. "I'm on a big case right now. Something big, but I'm never too busy to talk to my own son. So what brings you by? I see you have Shadow with you."

"I was just in the neighborhood, but I also got into it with Hennessey earlier," Jack said.

"Really? What did Dick put you through?" Frank said.

"Not much, just that he had an issue about the bust Chris and I did last night," Jack said. "He even said that he has trouble trusting me after you got kicked off the force."

Frank scoffed. "You know I didn't do any of that."

"I know," Jack said. "But that's what Dick told me. I wanted to punch him after that, but I didn't."

"Jack, listen, I know you have your methods of taking down criminals, even going off the books at times," Frank said. "But you are still a good cop. As for me getting kicked off, believe me, I tried to tell them that I didn't any of the things that I was accused of. But you know damn well that Blatz has his lawyers and some cops on his payroll that there was nothing I could do. I wouldn't be surprised if he bribed Judge MacGuffin, either. But at least I'm still a detective, just not for Grant City."

"I know you and Blatz have your history," Jack said. "But I have my ways of trying to keep tabs on him."

"Yes, but that isn't all of the crime in Grant City, you know," Frank said. "We still have the Sanderville Family, the Blanjov Family with the Russians, the Triad, and so on."

"Crime exists everywhere, Dad, but Blatz is the one who has Grant City on lock," Jack said. "I can never give up on taking that fucker down after what he did."

"I know, Jack, but there is nothing you can do," Frank said. "By the way, I hope it's not too awkward that I had hired Hildy as my assistant."

"Don't worry about it, Dad," Jack said. "I know that Hildy and I had something, but that's all in the past. We split up sometime after I enlisted in the marines, remember?"

"Yes, I do remember," Frank said. "Anyway, I got to look at some stuff involving the case I'm doing. I'll call you later."

Jack nodded and got up from his seat and headed for the door. Before he could open the door, he turned to face his father.

"Hey, Dad, you think maybe I can help you on this case?" Jack said.

Frank faced his son. "Jack, as much as I would like for you to help, I think this case is something that I should look in on my own."

Jack nodded his head. "See you later, Dad."

Jack and Shadow walked out of the office and headed for the front.

"Hey, Jack." A female voice called for his attention and saw that it was Hildy once again.

"Oh, hey," Jack said.

"Just want to know something, how have you been?" Hildy said. "I know you come by often, but we don't really talk much."

"I've been okay," Jack said. "Just been dealing with shit at my job."

"I know what that's like," Hildy said. "I sometimes wonder what I could do with some skills that I have."

"Didn't you go to school for nursing and to learn to be an EMT?" Jack said.

"Yeah, but it's hard to get in," Hildy said. "Besides, I'm just trying to get by until more opportunities come my way. Hey, may I ask you something?"

"Sure," Jack said.

"Do you ever wonder what happened?" Hildy said. "I mean between us and all that."

Jack sighed. "Sometimes, but I try not to let it get to me. Besides, we didn't break up on the worst of terms. I got into my own shit, you got into yours."

Hildy looked away. Her eyes shifted to her desk.

"I guess," Hildy said. "But at least we can still be friends."

"Yeah, I guess so," Jack said. "Anyway, see you around, Hildy. Maybe the next time I come by, okay?"

"Sure," Hildy said and waved goodbye to him as Jack and Shadow walked out.

They went to the squad car. Jack let Shadow into the backseat, and then Jack went to the driver's seat and sat there. He started to reflect on what Hildy had said. They had dated when they were younger. Maybe it was his imagination, but it didn't seem to him that Hildy had really gotten over him and he started to wonder if he had gotten over her. He even wondered about Ruby, about whether that relationship with her was genuine or was mainly for fun.

In either case, it was time to go back to the precinct.


	3. The Den of Iniquity

The next day, Jack had a day off and spent the day easing his stress. Though he didn't work that day, that didn't mean that he wouldn't make a stop by the station to pass the time, as well as keep fresh on some things.

Inside the police gym at the station, Jack stood in the ring with boxing gloves and a padded helmet facing Chris, who wore the same gear.

"You ready for this, Jack?" Chris said.

"Bring it on," Jack said as a smile grew on his face. The two policemen touched gloves and backed away from each other. Several other fellow policemen gathered and looked on as the two started sparring.

Chris let out a few right jabs and a left hook. Jack ducked and delivered right lower cut to Chris's stomach and an overhand left to Chris's face, only for Chris to dodge the punch.

"Come on, Jack, you're not losing your edge, are you?" Chris said.

Jack let out a right hand to the left side of Chris's torso and let out three jabs from his left hand and hard right hand to Chris's gut, followed by an uppercut to Chris's face.

Chris went back a bit and looked directly at his friend/partner. "Not bad, Jack. Keep going."

Jack and Chris continued to spar. Chris let out attacks of his own, connecting to Jack, but he won't budge. Jack repeated the same process. He dodged more attacks and threw a few more punches. Being that they were just sparring and wearing protective gear, he was not trying to hurt his friend.

"Doing pretty good, Jack," Chris said. "I was starting to worry a bit."

"Hey, I wasn't the boxing champion for nothing," Jack said. "Besides, if we were using other techniques, I would have taken you down sooner."

"Let's not get crazy here," Chris said. "After the other night, I know you would have taken that son of a bitch down if you used your other skills."

"I know I would have," Jack said and threw a few more punches. "But that guy was packing some serious heat and had all those bombs strapped to his chest."

Jack threw some more punches, delivered a combo of five punches, with his last two attacks being another body blow and finished with an uppercut, knocking Chris down. Soon after, he took off his right glove and helped Chris get up.

"You haven't lost your touch at all, Jack," Chris said. "I know exactly what you mean. I would have been in the same shit you were in if I dealt with that guy."

Jack smirked and nodded his head. The two went to go clean themselves up after that and changed their clothes. But they weren't done.

It wasn't long until they went into the shooting range. Both Jack and Chris walked in and each of them went to a lane. Jack put on a pair of glasses and earmuffs, as did Chris.

"Okay, Jack, pop quiz," Chris said as he picked up the pistol. "Airport, gunman with a hostage. He's using him or her for cover. He's almost to a plane. You're 100 feet away."

Jack picked up his gun as he already had the earmuffs and glasses on. He saw a sheet of targets come up. BANG! BANG! BANG! He fired three shots and a few more. Chris fired a few shots himself.

"To answer your question, I would do my best to fire a shot at a limb at the gunman," Jack said.

"What if the gunman brings the hostage into the plane?" Chris said and fired more shots.

"Then I would try to tranq the fucker," Jack said. "Of course that all depends on what kind of hostage we're talking about here. I would probably shoot the hostage, but if the hostage is a civilian, I would do everything I could to keep that person out of harm's way."

"Hold up," Chris said. "You mean you would shoot the hostage if the person wasn't a civilian?"

"Take that person out of the equation," Jack said. "Go for the good wound and he can't get to the plane with that hostage, clear shot."

"So what you're saying as long as the hostage isn't some innocent civilian, but if the hostage is one of the bad guys, then it would be okay?" Chris said. "In my opinion, that's still a crazy idea."

"Just saying what I would do," Jack said.

The two continued to fire shots at the targets. After a while, they were done and they left the range.

"So what else do you got going today?" Chris said. "I'm surprised you came here on your day off."

"It's just to keep fresh on my shooting and fighting," Jack said. "As for anything else, Ruby wants me to go by The Den of Iniquity to deal with a creeper of hers."

Chris sighed. "I don't know how you do it, Jack. Ruby is your CI. You busted her and then you two started dating. I don't know about you, but I am not sure if she is the one for you."

"What makes you say that?" Jack said.

"Not to generalize, but when you busted her for taking part in a robbery, I am not sure how a cop and a criminal would go together," Chris said. "I know Ruby is gorgeous, but even I am not sure if she is a keeper."

"You met Melissa when you and I went to go look at a case at the Bay Bell Hotel," Jack said.

"She was only a witness," Chris said. "Ruby, on the other hand, well, she is a thief and you busted her for it."

"She's trying to go straight," Jack said. "Besides, she's helping me with gaining info at that strip club and at that other club. She had told me that there may be a porn ring going on at one of those clubs, maybe both. Plus, she had told me that Blatz owns that place."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Jack," Chris said. "Didn't you tell me that an ex of yours is working for your dad these days?"

"I am, and yes, she is," Jack said. "But I'd rather not get into that right now."

"Okay, I get it," Chris said.

"I'll see you later," Jack said. "I got to go check on Shadow."

"Later, Jack," Chris said.

Jack took off and exited the precinct and went to his parked Malibu. He was about to go run some more errands and go back and check on his dog.

* * *

Night had fallen. It was around 8 PM. Jack sat in his apartment watching some TV. A news report on the television had more information about the averted terrorist attack from two nights before. The ringleader that was thwarted was named Felix Delgado, who was said to be of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent. He had been in police custody for his affiliations with the Scorpions and other felonies that he had been charged with.

RING! RING! RING! The phone rang, catching Jack off guard. Shadow barked. He didn't expect a call at this hour, unless it regarded something important. The number on the caller ID didn't seem familiar.

Jack picked up the phone. "Hello?"

_"Jack, it's Ruby."_

"Oh, hey, baby, what's up?" Jack said.

 _"Jack, that guy is here,"_ Ruby said.

"Wait, what?" Jack said.

 _"The creeper I told you about,"_ Ruby said. _"He's here and he has some friends with him."_

"I'll be there in a bit," Jack said. "Stay put."

 _"I'll see you in a bit,"_ Ruby said.

Jack hung up the phone and looked at Shadow. "Come on, boy. Let's go for a ride."

Suddenly, the phone rang yet again, except the number seemed more familiar this time.

"Hello?" Jack said.

_"Hey, Jack."_

_"Hey, Dad, what's up?"_ Jack said.

Frank said, _"Jack, I think I might need your help after all. My client wants me to look at something at the subway that's under construction. You know where that is, right?"_

"Yes, I do," Jack said. "When do you want me to meet you? I'm kind of busy right now."

 _"Come by at around 10,"_ Frank said.

"Okay, I'll meet you there," Jack said. "Call me on my cellphone if you need to reach me. I have something to do right now."

 _"Okay, I'll see you then,"_ Frank said.

The call had ended. Jack had two things going on tonight. One was to go help out his girlfriend. The other was to help out his father. Even though time hadn't slowed down his old man, if Frank asked Jack for his help on this, then this must have been something big.

Jack put on a beige and red jacket with a sergeant symbol on the left shoulder over a plain T-shirt. He also took his badge with him. Even though he was off duty, holding that symbolized his standing with the law. He even took a pistol with him in case he needed it when he will go help out his father.

"Come on, Shadow," Jack said as Shadow jumped off the couch and followed him. Jack and Shadow were ready to go handle some matters.

* * *

Jack took a ride to Downtown Grant City. The nightlife was popping that night. He passed by the Blue Fly Club, which also had a pink neon light sign for the Chaud Lapin Club. That place was only a few blocks away from his destination. It wasn't long until he found a sign for the nearby dance club called the Flaming Mamba Lounge, which meant he was right where he was headed: The Den of Iniquity. In fact, the places were connected for some odd reason.

Many people stood in line for the Flaming Mamba Lounge, which was a dance club, while the Den of Iniquity didn't have much of a line as it was just a gentlemen's club. He got out of his car and left Shadow there, as it was likely that dogs weren't allowed inside. He walked in and paid the fare to get in. Though he could have flashed his shield, he wanted to blend in somehow, ergo why he wore one of his casual jackets.

He walked around while "Who Are You Lovin'?" from Ice Cube and Mr. Short Khop played through the speakers and some scantily-clad women danced on the stage.

Jack looked around and until he heard a woman say, "Hey, handsome, want a lap dance?" He looked over and saw Ruby standing there in a rather skimpy pink bikini with pink boots and pink nylons.

"Sure, I would like one," Jack said and leaned in to her right ear. "Where's your creeper?"

"Just follow me," Ruby whispered into Jack's ear.

Ruby led the way for Jack to follow her. Some suspicious-looking men were seen sitting at a table. They looked like they were criminals. Jack's attention shifted in various areas but did not want to get compromised. Through his peripherals, he noticed this group of men. Two men stood out. They looked Eastern European and had a poor fashion sense. One had his hear slicked back and wore some shades and had a soul patch, and wore a baby pink long-sleeved button-down with red snake-skin pants. The other had a shaved head, a beard, a white long-sleeved button-down with red slacks. These two men had a rather familiar look to Jack but he didn't want to draw attention, although he may have already done that.

Ruby led Jack over to the VIP room. Jack already paid upfront. He came prepared to try to blend in. At that point, "Lapdance" from N.E.R.D. started playing. Jack sat in the seat as Ruby started to dance and take off her top in the process.

"So tell me, who is your creeper?" Jack said.

Ruby bent over and got back up with her back facing Jack. She turned around and straddled Jack and faced him.

"Those guys sitting at that table, you saw them, right?" Ruby said.

"Which ones?" Jack said.

"They're Russian," Ruby said. "They have on these expensive ugly clothes."

"Oh, them, yeah, I saw them," Jack said. "What about them?"

"One of the guys is my creeper," Ruby said. "He is the one with the glasses. He gets all touchy with me. I tried to tell the bouncers something, but it seems like they know those guys and they paid them off or something."

Ruby continued to straddle Jack and gyrated over him.

"Oh, you mean Boris Volkoff," Jack said.

Just then, Ruby went to a full stop and looked Jack dead in the eye.

"Wait, you know him?" Ruby said.

"My father and I have dealt with him and his brother Dimitri before," Jack said. "The guy with the shaved head was Dimitri. So who has been creeping on you?"

"It's definitely Boris," Ruby said. "There are days when he comes alone and like I also told you, he even comes by the Blue Fly sometimes."

"Okay, I hear you," Jack said.

Ruby stood before and looked him directly in the eye again. "Jack, wait, you're not going to walk up to him and start some shit, are you? You do know that this place is run by some mobsters, don't you?"

"I know that, I'm not stupid," Jack said. "But I will tell you that they want to start shit with me very soon. I even saw them mean-mugging me when you walked me back here."

"Okay, but when you go back out there, just get out of here," Ruby said. "I will meet you at your place after I'm done."

"Don't worry about it," Jack said.

Just then, the lap-dance had ended. Ruby had to act like a professional and offer to give him another dance. Jack played along and declined. Ruby put her top back on and then they walked out of the room. From a distance, a familiar woman walked in a hallway, in a similarly-colored bikini. She saw Jack and Ruby and watched as they walked off with a look of suspicion on her face.

Ruby led the way back into the main club with Jack following her as "Girls, Girls, Girls" from Motley Crue played on the speakers. From that same area, Boris looked at Jack and was ready to get up from his seat. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and he turned around and saw that it was his brother Dimitri, who shook his head.

["That pig's with my woman,"] Boris said in Russian.

["She's just doing her job and this is not the time to get into this,"] Dimitri said in response.

["That guy is that fucking cop who arrested you, did you forget about that?"] Boris said.

["No, but this is not the time or place, Boris!"] Dimitri said. ["Sit down!"]

Jack leaned in towards Ruby's ear. "Listen, I will figure out what I will do about Boris soon. Don't worry."

Ruby leaned in towards Jack's ear. "Thanks, Jack."

Suddenly, the music stopped. The announcer started speaking on the microphone.

"Okay, everyone, I want you to put your hands together for the lovely Faith!"

The speakers started blaring "After Dark" from Tito &Tarantula as Jack started to walk off and Ruby went to go do her own thing. The latest dancer came out dressed in a dress jacket, a fedora, and a skirt. The girl started dancing sexily and grabbed onto the pole. The girl grabbed her hat and threw it towards the audience. Jack looked up and did a double take on the woman on stage. Right when she opened her jacket in a flashing fashion, revealing her top and also her skirt, revealing her thong right after that, with a butterfly tramp stamp right above the waistband on her lower back.

 _Hildy?_ Jack thought. The woman on stage looked over and made eye contact with him. He knew he shouldn't judge and just went on his way out. But unbeknownst to him, he was being followed.

As soon as he left the establishment, a Russian-accented voice said, "Slate, I never thought that I would find you at a place like this."

Jack froze, a glare grew on his face, and slowly turned around. "Boris Volkoff, what an amazing surprise to see you. I see that your brother Dimitri got released."

"Yeah, because you arrested him and now you are after my girl!" Boris said.

Much to Jack's surprise, Boris was outside alone. Though he saw Dimitri, as well as a couple of other guys with them, he figured that Boris just wanted to beat him up. He even took off his glasses and rings on his fingers, as well as took off his wristwatch.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Ruby's your woman?" Jack said with a touch of sarcasm. "I'm sorry, I thought she was just doing her job. Oh, and she tells me that you've been following her home and to other places."

"Whatever, you stay away from her!" Boris said.

"Really, I was just going to tell you the same thing," Jack said. "You need to leave her alone. She's _my_ woman, and keep this in mind that I beat your brother's ass and sent him up the river."

Much to Jack's confusion, it was amazing to him that Boris wanted to avenge Dimitri's arrest, especially with Dimitri being around and would want to get back at him for it. In spite of it, Boris yelled and swung a right hand towards Jack, who quickly dodged the attack. That didn't stop Boris from swinging his left hand and got Jack on his left cheek.

Boris quickly grabbed Jack and pushed him against a wall. Boris was ready to lay an overhand right to his face, but Jack kneed him in the groin and delivered a hard right elbow to Boris's face. Jack grabbed Boris by the back of his head and drove him face first towards the wall and held him by his left hand.

"You must remember that I am an officer of the law," Jack said. "I could arrest you for assaulting a cop. I could let this slide if, and only _if_ you leave Ruby alone. Do I make myself clear?"

"Okay, I will leave her alone," Boris said with a said with a stern tone. "Now let me go!"

Jack immediately released him. Boris turned around and looked at him. He had a look on his face that said, "This isn't over, cop!" He didn't actually say it, but Jack knew that was what he felt.

Jack entered the club once again and walked and quickly saw Ruby walking around a hallway.

"Hey, Ruby," Jack said. "I took care of the problem. Boris is not going to bother you anymore."

"Oh, thank you!" Ruby said in a quiet tone. She looked like she wanted to hug him, but she didn't want to cause any suspicion to any staff.

"Jack?" a female voice said. Jack looked up. Ruby turned her head to look behind her. It was Hildy.

"Jack, is that you?" Hildy said.

"Hildy, didn't expect to see you working here," Jack said. "Or should I call you 'Faith'?"

"Hey, working for your dad is fine and all, but he hasn't been able to cover payroll lately," Hildy said. "So, I had to pick up a little scratch on the side. You won't tell him, will you? It'll probably kill him."

Ruby backed up with a look of confusion on her face as she looked at both people.

"You two know each other?" Ruby said.

"We're old friends," Jack said, as Hildy squinted her eyes at him.

"Yeah, we're old friends from our school days," Hildy said, though she knew what their relationship was from before.

"Hey, I won't say shit to my dad, okay?" Jack said. "I just didn't expect to find you here."

Jack looked at his watch. It had about an hour since he had gotten there. "Speaking of which, I got to meet with him in a bit." Jack turned towards Ruby. "Ruby, I'll call you later."

"Okay, later, baby," Ruby said, while Hildy looked on.

"See you later, Hildy," Jack said.

Hildy scoffed. "Later, Jack."

Jack exited the club and walked towards his Chevrolet Malibu. Shadow was still in the backseat. He barked and put his paws against the window. Jack clicked the button on his keys and went to the driver's seat.

"Hope I didn't take too long, boy," Jack said. "Let's go meet with Dad."

The key turned in the ignition. The car started up. It was time to go to the straight to the source.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this one. Okay, I'm going to clarify some stuff. One, Hildy's stage name being Faith is both a reference to the 1996 film, Fled, and also a reference to Dead to Rights: Retribution as the major female character in that one was named Faith. Also, the "shoot the hostage" discussion was a reference to Speed (1994). Man, I feel like watching it. It's been so long since I last watched that movie.
> 
> Also, with this being an alternate continuity, I have stated before that I am combining elements from the original game and Dead to Rights II, as well as some from Retribution (to a point, anyway). For example, Ruby was a character from Dead to Rights II.
> 
> I will get to the next one soon. Stay tuned.


	4. Last Call

It was almost 10 PM. Jack had left the Den of Iniquity along with Shadow. Earlier that night Jack's father had contacted him to meet with him at a subway that's under construction across town. The question was why. But nonetheless, Jack took Shadow along for this, even though Jack was going off the books in this as merely a favor for his father.

It was 9:57 PM, just three minutes before the exact hour. This area was close to Chinatown. Jack had pulled up and spotted a 1987 Ford LTD Crown Victoria with a man in a trench coat and a fedora hat. There were lights over the construction site and was able to pinpoint who the man was. It was Frank, his father. Jack parked his Malibu close to the car and got out, and then let Shadow out as well.

"Jack, you're here," Frank said.

"Hey, Dad," Jack said.

"I thought you would have been here earlier," Frank said.

"It's only a few minutes before 10," Jack said.

"Yes, but not cutting it this close," Frank said.

"I had to go check with my CI Ruby about something," Jack said.

"What did she want?" Frank said.

"Just my help with something, not a big deal," Jack said, to which Frank responded with a nod. It seemed like Frank had little to no knowledge that his son had been seeing his informant.

"Anyway, I hope you don't mind that I brought Shadow for this," Jack said.

"Not at all," Frank said. "Shadow may be of some help."

"So what are we looking at?" Jack said.

"Gloria Exner, the candidate for the next mayoral election came to me about something suspicious that she found around here," Frank said. "Come on, let's go in."

It was late at night. There were construction workers around, working on the subway, as well as the groundwork for the place. This project was being funded by Pinnacle Construction, a company owned by the city's current mayor, William Pinnacle. Some workers spotted the Slate family.

"Hey, hey, what are you guys doing here?" the foreman came down, along with some fellow workers.

"Relax, I'm a detective," Frank said and pulled out his badge to show them. "My son here is a Grant City police officer. We are just investigating something around here. We will just scope out the place and we'll be out of your hair."

The foreman looked at both men and Shadow. Jack pulled out his badge to verify his position and also told the foreman that Shadow is a police dog.

"Okay, you guys can check it out," the foreman said.

This whole project had been busy. Not a lot of progress was made in putting in the tracks and stuff, but some puddles were visible in the big canyon that was made with water coming out of the storm drains. The site had a lot of machinery around, even with tractors with Pinnacle's name scribed on them, as well as trailers for the workers. Even from a distance, there were billboards showing a picture of the mayor as an ad for his construction company, as well as a sign on top of a building reading "Hotel Pinnacle." This area had a lot of hotels, to be exact, so building a subway here may have been necessary for the nightlife in these parts of Grant City.

The site had all of the lights on for the workers so that they can work in the nighttime. However, Jack and Frank brought some flashlights just in case. They looked around the area to see if there was anything suspicious. They walked around. They couldn't find much of anything of note, but that didn't mean that there was nothing there. Jack told Shadow to go sniff around the area to find anything suspicious nearby.

"Dad, I was wondering," Jack said, breaking the silence as he wanted to make conversation. "Ever since you got kicked off the force, I wondered if I should have quit the force during that same time."

Frank went to a complete halt. "Now why would you think something like that?"

"You and I both know that you didn't do any of that shit that caused you to get fired," Jack said. "I'm still onto Augie Blatz for what he did, but I felt that if you get thrown off, then I should have walked."

"Jack, I have told you that you had nothing to do with it," Frank said. "This was my problem and mine alone. I love you for wanting to stick by me for this, but quitting your job because of all that bullshit with me and Blatz, that would not have been a smart move."

Jack sighed. "I told you yesterday that Hennessey has had it in for me because of you getting kicked off the force."

"That is Dick's own problem and I know you're a good cop in your own right," Frank said. "Besides, Hennessey had it in for me when I was on the force. I told myself to continue making a difference in this city. Ever since your mother died, I wondered if I should have continued being a cop, but I did. Then I got kicked off, but I didn't want to stop making a difference, especially with all of the corruption in the city and the police force."

Jack started to remember that his mother, Dolores Slate had died a few years prior. She was killed in an auto accident, as someone who was high on drugs crashed into her vehicle. But the other person lived and got off due to some corrupt lawyers and a corrupt judge and was issued to go into rehab, rather than jail. It saddened him and enraged him at the same time.

"I miss Mom," Jack said.

"So do I, Jack, every day," Frank said.

Frank looked around and saw a gate and then saw another opening, like a cave where there was tape that indicated that no one should cross it.

"Hey, Jack, let's split up a bit," Frank said. "How about you and Shadow go look over there? I will go check out this area over by the gate."

"Okay, we'll catch up to you in a bit," Jack said and looked at Shadow. "Come on, boy, let's go look over there."

Jack and Shadow went over to the cave to go scope out the place. If the mayoral candidate had enlisted the services of Frank Slate to look at this place and not the police, then it must be something big. Jack suspected that there was corruption in the department and wouldn't be surprised if any of his superiors and officers were bought by the likes of Augie Blatz. The previous day, Frank had mentioned Judge McGuffin, but Jack probably figured that his father threw out a name because that judge had been a friend to the Slate family for years.

As soon as they reached that cave with the caution tape across it, Jack told Shadow to go look inside. Jack reached for his flashlight that was close to his scanner. He may have been off duty, but in case he needed to make a call to any police in the area, he could reach them through their radios. Jack stood near the entrance to the cave.

BARK! BARK! BARK! Jack jumped and looked up as Shadow continued to bark. Jack quickly got out his flashlight and turned it on. He stepped in and went under the tape. The light was on and looked around. What could be in this cave? Jack continued to look on the ground and saw Shadow sitting and looked over at his master approaching and barked for his attention.

"What is it, boy?" Jack said. Shadow reached his paw out and leaned his head close to something that looked hard and shiny.

"What the hell…?" Jack said and approached his dog. One would suspect that the cave would hold some kind of drug stash, or even a stash of weapons that were buried that someone would want to sell to make a profit. But this was not the case, at all.

Jack knelt against the ground and got out some gloves from the pockets of his jacket. He remembered that he was going to help his father on this case. He didn't want his prints on this, either. He put his gloves on and picked it up and took a closer look at this.

 _What in the world is this? Is this what I think it is?_ Jack took a closer look at the thing. It was solid as a rock. It was shiny, as the glare from the flashlight caused the surrounding light to change color. It looked like gold. But why would there be gold here? Was this what the case was all about?

"Well, boy, I'm not sure if should keep this as evidence or take it for myself," Jack said. "What do you think?"

Shadow whimpered in response.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Gunshots were heard. Jack looked up, as did Shadow, who started to bark and growl once again.

"Shit, we got to check on Dad," Jack said. "Come on!"

Jack wasted no time in running out of the cave. Shadow was ahead of him and followed the trail of where the sound came from. Jack was frantic. He couldn't tell where the gunshots came from. He remembered that his dad went to check out a certain area. There was a gate with a roof being built over it, like if that was going to be the entrance to the subway. Jack ran right to the area. The gate was open and Shadow got in there before Jack did.

"Dad!" Jack yelled and went right to him.

They were too late. Jack saw his father lying there, bleeding, barely breathing, like it wasn't long until he was dead, if he wasn't already dead, that is. Jack quickly got out his transceiver.

"This is Officer Slate, I have a gunshot victim, barely a pulse, I need an ambulance immediately," Jack said. "The victim's named Frank Slate. He is down."

 _"Sending some reinforcements and paramedics,"_ said the woman on dispatch. _"Hang in there, Officer Slate, tell your father to hang tight."_

"…Jack." A voice slowly said. Jack looked up at his dying father.

"Dad, help is on the way," Jack said. "Hang in there. Fight it, I know you can do it."

"I…don't…think…it really matters," Frank said. "I...must…tell you."

"What is it, Dad?" Jack said frantically.

"I don't…think…I will make it," Frank said. "But the gun…is over there…it will…"

"It will what?" Jack said. "Tell me, Dad! TELL ME! Come on, DON'T DIE ON ME!"

Jack's voice cracked a bit when he yelled that. His eye was a little moist from that.

"Dad, hang in there, help will be here soon!" Jack said. But in spite of it all, he knew his father was gone. There was nothing he could do. Jack knelt there over his father's bloody corpse, with his head down.

 _I've seen a hundred bodies sprawled ugly in dark allies and bright living rooms._ Jack thought. _But this one was different. This was my dad, the man who looked me in the eye one day and told me he was innocent of the bad things he'd been accused of, and I believed him, because he would never lie to me. But now he was dead, and somebody had to pay._

Time had passed, like approximately 20 minutes. There was no way Jack was going to leave his father's side, not like that. Frank had mentioned something about the gun that was on the ground. Jack wanted to pick it up to take it as evidence, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. All he could think about was who could have wanted Frank dead. In that time, several officers came and asked some construction workers and the foreman some questions. Hennessey had come to the crime scene and saw Jack and Shadow still tending to Frank, even though they knew he was dead.

"Slate, I'm sorry for your loss, but we got this scene covered," Hennessey said as he put his arm on Jack's back to help comfort him, but Jack wouldn't have any of it.

"I want this case," Jack said as he stood up.

"The hell you do, go home and get some rest," Hennessey said. "I know you want to know who killed your old man. Trust me, I know that Frank and I have had our differences and stuff, but I don't want you to do anything you'll regret. We'll keep you posted."

"My father was about to tell me something in his final breath," Jack said. "He even mentioned that gun that was left there."

"I'm serious, Slate," Hennessey said. "I'll have the CSU look at the gun and for any bullets. We're on it."

"Fuck that," Jack said. "I have every right to search for my dad's killer."

"You know your old man had only one enemy," Hennessey said. "Yeah, I know he had dealt with the worst of crooks, but there was only one who he couldn't put away and could never buy your old man."

"Augie Blatz," Jack said.

"One thing you should know, Slate," Hennessey said. "You might want to be careful with those kinds of accusations. Blatz owns a whole team of lawyers."

"Yeah, and thugs," Jack said.

"Don't do anything stupid, Slate," Hennessey said. "Blatz is well-connected and you're in over your fucking head if you try to pull some shit with him."

Jack turned around and faced his superior. "I'm a part of this whether you like it or not."

Hennessey sighed. "Look, Redwater and I will look for your father's killer. In the meantime, take some time off. Don't get into any shit, because I can see that rage in your eye. Chief Redwater and I will keep you posted."

Jack and Shadow walked away. Could Augie Blatz have had anything to do with Frank's murder? Jack wanted to know as soon as possible, but it wasn't the time. He needed to be ready for this.


	5. Stricken by Grief

It had been almost a couple of weeks. Jack had been grieving over his father's death. Jack's father, Frank was murdered while investigating a case for a client of his. The client was mayoral candidate, Gloria Exner. Jack had been distant from his friends lately, as well as any family who he may have had.

The previous week, Frank was buried at Peaceful Shores as a funeral was held. Many officers of the Grant City Police Department had attended, such as Captain Inness, Dick Hennessey, Chief Redwater, among others, such as Mayor William Pinnacle, accompanied by his bodyguard, former boxer Rafshoon Diggs. Others who had attended were Chris, Hildy, Ruby, and of course, Jack. Even though Frank wasn't a cop for the GCPD at the time of his death, he was still honored with a 10-gun salute and had a special funeral for a cop.

At the service, Chris, Ruby, and Hildy tried to comfort Jack, who wasn't having it, not even in the least bit. Even around that same time, whether it was in the wake of Frank's murder, Jack had been put on leave because he needed to grieve his father. He had watched news reports, which had some interviews with the mayor, Hennessey, and the one person Jack did not expect to be interviewed. Jack was steamed when he saw a man with shoulder-length hair and glasses, as well as expensive clothing. This man was Augie Blatz, a man whom Frank had quite a history with. When Jack saw that man on TV, he threw a glass to the wall.

To the citizens of Grant City, Blatz was known as a philanthropist who helped give back to the community, whether it's rebuilding playgrounds, or paying for some equipment at elementary schools in underprivileged communities. But Jack had a feeling that the money he paid to help give back, he had gotten it through illegal means, such as drug-dealing, arms-dealing, racketeering, among other things.

Jack sat in his apartment. He fed Shadow. He had a bottle of alcohol placed in front of him. He was so consumed by grief that he had taken up drinking and had been working out less lately. Even when he did exercise, he went a little harder when it came to punching a bag in the gym. He wasn't just sad, but also full of rage.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Jack looked up. Shadow whimpered. Jack picked up a pistol he had. He walked over to the door and raised his gun just in case.

"Who is it?" Jack said.

"It's Hildy," she said.

Jack lowered his gun and went ahead to open the door. Hildy walked into the apartment.

"Hi, Jack, how are you feeling?" Hildy said.

"How do you think I feel?" Jack said and sat on the couch.

Hildy didn't say anything. Even though it had been almost a full two weeks, he was still not completely over the death of his father.

"Jack, listen, I came by because I wanted to see you," Hildy said. "I tried to call you a few times recently, but you didn't pick up. I know what you're going through. I just wanted to see how you were holding up."

"Do you, really?" Jack said with so much derision in his voice.

It was really hard to even try to talk to Jack in that moment. Chris had tried to reach out to him a few times. It was clear that their partnership wasn't just professional, as they were actual friends given their relationship and that Jack also knew Chris's father, who was incarcerated. Ruby even tried to reach him, too. Jack was just that distant to everyone around him.

"Jack, I'm really trying to help you here," Hildy said. "I don't want you to go and do anything stupid that you'll regret doing."

"What makes you think that I will go do something stupid?" Jack said.

"Come on, Jack, I'm not stupid," Hildy said. "You may be grieving for your dad, but I have a feeling you're about to go kill someone who may or may not have been involved."

"Shut up, you don't know shit!" Jack said.

"Oh _no_?" Hildy said. "You don't remember that my dad died when I was younger? Or even that my mom and I don't have the greatest relationship? But I still kept my head up high and kept doing my thing. I just don't want to see you do anything stupid. Besides, I had heard about the bullshit surrounding your dad getting fired from the force, but I never believed any of it."

Jack was at a loss for words. There was no denying that this woman was right. Even though they weren't as close as they were when they were younger, Hildy showed that she still cared for Jack.

"I know what you're thinking," Hildy said. "You think Augie Blatz had something to do with Frank's murder, don't you?"

"Now why the fuck would you say that?" Jack said.

"Come on, Jack," Hildy said. "Don't think I don't see shit. I know that when your dad was cop, shit, even when I was working for him, your dad was the one man who Augie could never buy off. He had wanted to bring Augie down for all the shit your dad went through."

"Not as much as I wanted to take that fucker down for what he put Dad through," Jack said. "But I'm going to see for myself, one way or another."

"Your father was a good man, and I'm sure he wouldn't want to see you like this, Jack," Hildy said.

"You don't get it, do you?" Jack said.

"Try me, Jack," Hildy said. "I also know you've been fucking Ruby. You see, that night at the strip club? She came up to me and asked me how we knew each other. She told me that you two have been seeing each other, but I think there is something up with this."

"Ruby doesn't have shit to do with this," Jack said.

"Oh really?" Hildy said. "You know that Augie has a hand at the Den of Iniquity and the Flaming Mamba Lounge, and I'm sure he has a hand at the Blue Fly Club, too. Ruby dances at those places. So why do I get the feeling that you have her trying to provide some intel to you on Augie?"

Jack quickly shot her a look of suspicion. He should have seen this coming, as he and Hildy have a history. Jack had been seeing Ruby for months, almost a year. It was about as long as Hildy working as Frank's assistant. What was odd for him was that with Hildy being somewhat back in his life like this, he had conflicting feelings, especially with Ruby being in the picture.

"Hey, do not go there!" Jack said. "Are you jealous or something?"

Hildy sighed. She really wanted to tell Jack something. Jack had suspected that Hildy was a bit jealous, especially with her expression at the Den of Iniquity that night. In the back of Hildy's mind, she wondered if Jack was using that poor woman, almost as if she wondered if Ruby was a criminal informant of his and because she knew who owned that club, as well as other spots in Grant City, suspicion flowed through her veins. Hildy had told Ruby that they dated when they were younger, but also told her that Ruby could have Jack.

"I just wanted to come by and check in," Hildy said. "I see you've been drinking and you need to relax and cope some more. I will call you again soon to see how you're doing. And please, Jack, I'm really worried right now for you."

Hildy walked out the door. Jack sat there with a scowl in his eye. All he could do is think about what she had said.

_Could Hildy be right about this? Chris even told me that I could probably do better than Ruby. Yes, Ruby is gorgeous and I do like her, but I look at a woman like Ruby and think that she could go for anybody, like an older rich guy, maybe become a trophy wife. Yet, she chose me, a cop with a vendetta against a powerful crime lord. It wasn't like Ruby was some kind of saint, either. I busted her for taking part in a robbery and caught her in the act for trying to crack a safe. Yet, I couldn't just let go, either._

Jack was conflicted. He realized that his best friend, Chris had a good point, as did his ex-girlfriend/old friend, Hildy, especially in both of their perspectives.

_Was I just taking advantage of this woman? She has commitment issues, and I wouldn't be surprised if she is seeing other men, yet Ruby seems to care about me._

So much went through Jack's mind in that very moment. Was Augie Blatz really behind Frank's murder? Was Hildy right about everything? Even with the criminal element in Grant City, there were plenty of organizations that ran various districts. Yet, Jack only thought of Augie Blatz, who was Frank's nemesis. It couldn't be the Sanderville Family, nor could be the triads. Blatz had a connection with the Russians, at least the faction led by Robert Blanjov. In fact, they were partners in crime. On top of that, they were also connected to John Sanderville, the oldest and one of the most powerful bosses in Grant City. But Frank never really had any issue with the other organizations besides Blatz's.

* * *

The next night, Jack took off to a bar called The Beer Barn in Traintown, which was in the industrial parts of Grant City. It was a place full of roughnecks and bikers, with motorcycles parked in a line out front, as well as a bar fight taking place quite often. Not exactly a place a cop would be welcome, but in Jack's case, maybe that was the point. Even then, he had been drinking at home, so maybe he needed to get out, but to a biker bar?

Jack arrived at the place. The place was filled with cigarette smoke polluting the ambiance, rock music blaring, as well as people shooting pool, or throwing darts, not to mention some women dressed a certain way in the hopes of meeting someone. Jack was a fish out of water.

He walked up to the bar, with a bartender named Andre, a bald and burly man with a handlebar mustache similar to former US president Chester A. Arthur, as well as Lemmy, frontman of the metal band, Motorhead. Jack sat before this man. Andre looked at him with a glare. It was as if Jack had a familiar look to him.

"Hello, what can I get you?" Andre said.

"I would like a shot of Jack, please," Jack said. He just realized that he just said his first name, but he didn't tell the bartender that was his name.

"Jack, huh?" Andre said and pulled out a bottle, along with a shot glass. He poured the alcohol into the glass and slid it towards Jack.

Out of the blue, a man with a cowboy hat, mutton chop sideburns, as well as a black leather vest over a T-shirt and dark pants walked in with some other men of a similar style. They were bikers and the man with the cowboy hat was Steve Houstown, leader of the Death Riders. The Death Riders were a one-percenter biker gang that was mostly about being all-around outlaws and raising hell.

"Andre, what's going on?" Steve said with a southern accent. Andre looked up and rolled his eyes.

"Steve, what the hell are you doing here?" Andre said. "Don't you have a different bar now, the South Star?"

"What? I can't come by and see how the old place is going?" Steve said. "We were just in the neighborhood."

Steve walked up towards Andre while Jack sat there and hadn't touched his shot yet.

"Listen," Andre said to Steve. "Last time you were here, you caused a lot of shit and we don't want no more trouble, ya hear?"

"Come on, Andre, we ain't gonna start shit," Steve said and looked to his fellow Death Riders. "Are we, fellas?"

The other bikers shook their heads and said no. The bikers all looked around. Jack sat and finally took his shot.

"Want some more?" Andre said to Jack.

"Maybe," Jack said.

Steve turned around and saw Jack and went up to him.

"Hey, I know you," Steve said.

"No, you don't," Jack said.

"Yeah, I do," Steve said. "I saw on you on TV last week. You took down that terrorist attack that the Scorpions tried to pull."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jack said. He didn't even turn to look at Steve. He didn't shift his eyes, either.

"Oh, okay, but I just want you to know that a place like don't take kindly to cops," Steve said.

"You got the wrong guy," Jack said.

Andre sighed. "Steve, not now."

"What?" Steve said. "I'm just making conversation. I know you serve food here, but I didn't think that I smelled bacon in this place."

Steve looked at Jack with such suspicion. Either Steve was trying to start something here, or maybe he was just making conversation, like maybe he had encountered Jack before.

"I don't have time for this, I think I'll go," Jack said and got up to walk away.

Steve and his cohorts looked at him some more. Steve quickly walked right up to him and grabbed him by the shoulder to turn around, which caused him to meet a fist right to the jaw. Jack laid that right hand hard to the biker leader's face.

"You motherfucker," Steve said, holding his right hand against his jaw.

"Hey, Steve, if you're going to do this, take it outside," Andre said. "I'm trying to run a business here."

Jack thought nothing of it and just walked outside, but Steve and his Death Riders would have nothing of it. The second Steve walked out the door, he tried to attack Jack, but Jack quickly clocked him with a punch to the stomach and an uppercut, knocking Steve down.

"Get him, boys!" Steve said. The fellow bikers quickly complied to beat Jack down. Jack didn't back down. He put up a fight and laid a few hits onto the fellow bikers. He even drove a biker's face to the wall and even twisted the arm of one. But that wasn't all, as a couple of others proceeded to beat up Jack. One grabbed Jack by the arms from behind and another biker punched him in his chest, stomach, and then his face. Jack started to bleed from his mouth and nose and suffered a black eye. If that wasn't bad enough, he got to the ground and they proceeded to kick him.

Except Jack wasn't about to give up and swept the leg of the biker who kicked him. He may have been beaten, but he wasn't going down without a fight and still managed to lay a few hits on them.

* * *

Meanwhile, a cop car on the vicinity got a report saying, _"Attention all units, we got a disturbance in Traintown at the Beer Barn. Someone said that we're experiencing a man getting beaten up by bikers outside of the bars. Proceed with extreme caution."_

The two cops in the car were Chris and his partner, Michelle Powell. The two were working together while Jack was on his leave of absence. Chris reached for his radio.

"This is Jones, I'm close to that area, Powell and I will go check it out, over," Chris said.

"What do you think is going on?" Powell said. "If I'm not mistaken, she said Traintown and the Beer Barn. That's where some bikers hang out, right?"

"Whatever it is, we need to check it out," Chris said.

Chris drove and turned on the lights and siren. With this bar being located near a train yard, they really needed the lights and siren. Both cops knew that they were going into a territory that they likely weren't wanted, but if there was a disturbance, they needed to do their jobs.

The squad car crossed into the train yard where that bar was. From a distance, one of the Death Riders looked up and saw the blue and red lights flashing.

"Shit, we got fucking cops!" the biker said.

Steve looked up as the car was still at a distance. "Shit, let's get the fuck out of here."

All of the Death Riders ran right to their bikes, started them up, and got out of there. Jack was left lying there, beaten, but not badly. The bikers did manage to beat him up, but he did put up a fight and it wasn't like he couldn't move. He lied face down and crawled a bit. Jack looked up and saw the GCPD vehicle come to a stop with the headlights on him. Chris and Powell got out of the car.

"Shit, Jack, is that you?" Chris said.

"Yeah, it's me," Jack said.

"What are you doing here?" Powell said.

"Trying to get a drink," Jack said and made a slight chuckle.

"No time for jokes, we need to get your ass home," Chris said and helped get Jack to his feet.

"Fuck that, I'm not leaving my car here," Jack said.

"Give me your keys," Chris said and looked to Powell. "Follow us, Powell. I'm driving Jack to his house."

"Got it," Powell said.

Jack handed Chris his keys and helped him get to his car. They got in and Chris got in the driver's seat and started up the car. All cops got out of there.

"Are you fucking crazy, Jack?" Chris said.

"Why?" Jack said.

"Jack, I know you're going through a lot right now, with your father having been murdered," Chris said. "But going out to a biker bar like this, I think you have a death wish. I'm really worried about you. I went through the same shit when my pops got locked up."

"Your dad's still alive," Jack said.

"That doesn't matter," Chris said. "I may have to talk to Hennessey or Redwater to try to see if you need an extended leave or to talk with a counselor."

"I'll be fine," Jack said.

"Are you sure about that?" Chris said. "Listen, I'm taking you home. I can't leave you alone, either. Call Ruby or something."

Jack was at a loss. He got out his flip cellphone. He could try to call someone right now to help keep him company. It was either Ruby or Hildy. He thought about calling the latter, but then thought that maybe he could try to talk to Ruby, especially after he remembered what Hildy told him. He called Ruby.

"Hey, Ruby, are you almost off?" Jack said. "Listen, I got into some shit, and I really need you to look at some stuff. I just need someone to talk to. You know I've been going through a lot lately. Okay, I'll see you in a bit."

The call ended. Chris proceeded to drive Jack home to his apartment. As soon as they got there, Chris asked if Jack can walk right, but Jack was able to move just fine. As Jack walked towards the door, he looked on as he walked to the squad car where it was stopped.

"You think he'll be okay?" Powell said.

Chris sighed. "I hope."

Jack went up the stairs and saw Ruby right by the door.

"Jack?" Ruby said and took a closer look. "Oh shit, Jack!"

"I'm fine, Ruby," Jack said.

"Let's get you inside," Ruby said. "I need to put ice on you."

Jack and Ruby walked in. Shadow crawled to both people and barked. Ruby went to the freezer and got some ice and put the cubes in a plastic bag. Jack sat there and watched as Ruby did this for him.

_I sit here and Ruby just gets me some ice. Jack thought. Since last night, I asked myself if Hildy had a point. I couldn't believe this. It's like I thought before – Ruby could go for a rich guy or some shit like that, but she chose a guy like me. Am I really using her?_

Jack couldn't help but think this. He saw that Ruby genuinely cared for him, even though she won't commit. Jack got hurt and needed some company. But it wasn't over for him. He still needed to see if Blatz had any involvement in his father's murder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steve Houstown and the Death Riders were featured in Dead to Rights II. I thought maybe I could bring them in.
> 
> Speaking of Dead to Rights II, I have been comparing Jack's portrayals in the original game, Dead to Rights II, and Dead to Rights: Retribution, and I could see that there are differences in how he was portrayed. With DtR2 being more of a balls-to-the-wall action game, there really wasn't a story and Jack spouted a bunch of cheesy one-liners. He did the same in the original, but the narrative tried to be like a crime story, except there were issues with the writing. Only Retribution had a much grittier story going for it, as it felt different than the previous games. Keep in mind, Retribution was a reboot and I suppose in some areas, it tried to be as gritty as Max Payne, except that one was all-around gritty with some more consistent writing and good narratives. Hell, people called Dead to Rights a Max Payne knock-off back in those days.
> 
> I will continue with this soon.


	6. Back to Work

It had been a couple of days since the incident at the Beer Barn. Jack had been so stricken by grief that he had made some irrational decisions. First it started with all of the drinking, when it's often believe that self-medication through alcohol consumption can often help clear one's head, but it doesn't always work. Then it led to Jack going to a biker bar, where cops are usually not welcome. Not only was he there to drink, but if someone made him out, he was likely looking for a death wish.

When Ruby stayed over that night, it made Jack question everything that was going on around him. Chris, his own best friend, had been working with a new partner but was more than willing to give Jack a lift back to his place. Hildy had checked in with him, which showed that despite the rough discussion that occurred, she still cared about Jack. And Ruby, she stayed with him to take care of him and keep him company. Even Jack saw that he so much support around him, though on one hand he felt he didn't deserve Ruby, especially since he started to feel something for Hildy once again.

It had been a little more than a couple of weeks. Maybe it was time for Jack to come back to work. But at the same time, he still wanted to find out if his father's nemesis, Augie Blatz had anything to do with the murder of Frank Slate.

Ruby stayed over once again. She felt that she was safer staying at Jack's place, even though he had confronted her creeper that night at the Den of Iniquity those couple of weeks prior. But she had wondered if Boris even strolled by her place a few times since then.

It was morning. Jack was getting ready to go by the station to talk with Inness and Hennessey about coming back. He was only on leave so that he could grieve his father, but he also needed to check with his superiors. Ruby was still asleep on Jack's bed, naked under the covers. A glare peered in through the curtain, hitting Ruby's face, causing her to turn around.

"Time to get up, baby," Jack said.

Ruby, barely waking up, grabbed a pillow and put it over her head.

"Ruby, I got to go do something right now, you can't stay," Jack said.

Ruby sighed. "Oh, can't you just give me another five minutes?"

"No, I can't," Jack said. "Shadow and I are going to the station. Besides, don't you have stuff to do? Don't you have class later?"

"My class isn't until the afternoon," Ruby said.

"Still, I need you to go," Jack said.

Ruby started to ascend and sit up.

"Hey, I was wondering, has Boris bothered you lately?" Jack said.

Ruby went and put on her clothes, starting from her bra and panties, as well as jeans and T-shirt, and finally her jacket and shoes. Ruby even had brought a jacket that was somewhat similar to the one Jack was wearing, as there were two colors. The difference, however, was the pattern and the colors were burgundy and yellow.

"Not since that night, at least not at the club," Ruby said. "But I have a feeling that his brother or some of his friends follow me home sometimes."

"What makes you so sure it's them?" Jack said.

"I noticed a car driving slowly and pulling up when I got home recently," Ruby said. "I have a feeling it's them, but I can't be too sure."

"Well, you know who to call if they give you anymore shit," Jack said.

"I know, I'll see you later, baby," Ruby said and gave Jack a peck on the lips before heading towards the door.

After she left, Jack went to go grab his badge and gun, and also told Shadow to come out. He made sure he fed Shadow before they left. It was time to head to the precinct.

* * *

Jack pulled up. He parked his car in the lot and let Shadow loose, as he followed his master into the station. As soon as they walked in through the door, some people looked up at Jack as if they saw a ghost. Chris and Powell looked up, prompting Chris to walk up to Jack.

"Jack, you're back," Chris said.

"Have you seen Inness anywhere? What about Hennessey?" Jack said.

"They're talking in Hennessey's office right now," Chris said. "Redwater came by, they're talking with him right now."

"I should go see what is up," Jack said.

"Hold up," Chris said. "They're in a meeting right now. I don't think you should interrupt."

"That's not going to stop me," Jack said. "I need to find my dad's killer and I need to talk with them right now."

"Jack!" Chris said, but Jack persisted as he and Shadow walked towards Hennessey's office.

Inside Hennessey's office, Inness and Redwater stood before him as they discussed something.

"…I'm just saying that something could be done about the problems we have in the city," Inness said.

"That's where I bring in the Anti-Crime unit," Hennessey said.

Redwater, an older cop with short gray hair, stood there as Inness and Hennessey talked to him.

"Well, I'm not opposed to the idea of the Anti-Crime unit handling business, but don't lose sight of anything here, Dick," Redwater said. "The GAC unit may work if they need to storm some heavy cases, but people are still talking about how Slate and Jones singlehandedly took down that terrorist attack attempt a few weeks ago."

"Well, Slate and his beast of a dog could have put those innocent lives at stake," Hennessey said. "I think it's time we try to give the crime element in Grant City a nice kick in the ass. Pinnacle seems all for it."

The door opened. "Well, like I told you before, those people would have been killed if Jones and I didn't act right away," Jack said.

All three high-ranking officers looked at Jack.

"Hello, Slate," Inness said.

Redwater turned towards Jack. "Slate, I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your father. It was quite a tragedy."

"You have no idea," Jack said.

"What are you doing here, Slate?" Hennessey said.

"I work here, remember?" Jack said. "I want to get back on my beat. I feel like I'm ready."

"The hell you are, Slate," Hennessey said.

"Dick, please don't do this," Inness said.

"Shut up, Eddie, I'm saying that Slate is not ready, especially since I had heard he got into some shit the other night," Hennessey said.

"Dick, sit down," Redwater said with such authority in his voice. Hennessey may have been a high-ranking officer in the department as he was an inspector, but Redwater was the chief, as he was above Hennessey in that regard.

"Maybe we should listen to what Slate has to say," Redwater said.

Jack continued, "Hennessey, I'm ready to get back on the job."

"Okay, but if you haven't noticed already, we were in the middle of something until you barged in," Hennessey said. "So please, Slate, wait outside until our meeting is adjourned, okay?"

Jack nodded his head and walked out of the office. After about five minutes, Redwater and Inness left Hennessey's office. Hennessey signaled Jack to come back into his office.

"Okay, Slate, Red and I declare that you are ready to get back on the job, especially since it's been a couple of weeks since your father's murder," Hennessey said. "But what do you _really_ want?"

"I want to find my father's killer," Jack said.

"Whoa, whoa, Slate, that part is out of the question," Hennessey said.

"You know I have every right to be on this case," Jack said.

"Haven't you heard of something called 'conflict of interest'?" Hennessey said. "Besides, like I told you before, your father had only one enemy. Sure, we all knew about the big crime families in Grant City. The Black Dragon Triad, the Sanderville family, the Russians, even those small-time guys like the Scorpions and the Death Riders, but with Blatz having some influence in some parts of the city, he was always the one who gave your old man a run for his money."

"I have a right to find out who did it, you know," Jack said.

"Yeah, and then Blatz will have some of his boys whack you the moment they see a cop on his turf," Hennessey said. "What I'm trying to tell you here is don't do anything stupid. You will regret going up against Blatz. Mark. My. Words. Do you understand?"

Jack couldn't look Hennessey in the eye. There was something off about this in Jack's perspective. While Blatz may have had some influence on Grant City, it wasn't on the whole city. Hennessey may have had a point that Augie Blatz was the one big-time criminal whom Frank Slate had any issues with. But if not him, who could it have been to knock off Frank? But the only person on Jack's mind was Blatz. In either case, he needed to see for himself, even if it meant violating a direct order.

But nonetheless, just to appease his superior, Jack nodded his head.

"Good, now I got to make a few calls," Hennessey said.

Jack got up and left the room with Shadow following him. As Jack and Shadow walked outside Hennessey's office, Hennessey looked at Jack to make sure he was far enough before he dialed the number on the keypad of his phone.

"Hello, may I speak to Mayor Pinnacle? This is Inspector Hennessey of the Grant City Police Department," Hennessey said. "Yes, I'll hold."

Chris looked up and saw Jack and Shadow and walked away from his desk. What caught his attention was that Jack looked like he had look of determination, mixed with disappointment. He made no choice but to approach his friend.

"Hey, Jack, what's going? What did Hennessey say?" Chris said.

"He told me that he doesn't think I should search for Dad's killer," Jack said. "He said that it's conflict of interest."

"Are you kidding me?" Chris said.

"No, but it's not like I will let that stop me," Jack said. "I feel that it was Augie Blatz who had my father killed. I'm going to see for myself."

Chris shot him a look that said, "Are you serious?"

"Jack, you're my partner and most of all, you're my friend," Chris said. "As your friend, I think you might be getting in over your head."

"Now why would you think that?" Jack said. "Don't you also want to bring down the assholes who got your dad put in jail?"

"You know damn well I do," Chris said. "But Blatz has connections all over Grant City. This is suicide, Jack. As much as I want to find the motherfuckers who planted those drugs at that church and framed my father, we don't know who did it. But the one thing that I would like nothing more is for my old man to get out of jail. I know I'm not as religious as my dad, but I know my dad didn't sell any drugs out of his church."

Chris's father, Prentiss Jones, whom Frank and Jack often called "Preacher" as a nickname, because ever since he found God, he would often quote bible sermons, was convicted for that crime a few years prior for something he didn't commit. Chris wanted nothing more than to get him out of jail, especially with the way how the warden ran things. Word had it that the warden was corrupt, too.

"I know that, Chris, but I have to find out sooner or later," Jack said. "Your father is a good man."

"Your father was a good man, too," Chris said. "But like I said, I'm just trying to look out for you. But also as your boy, I hope you know what you're doing."

"Don't worry about me, I have my ways," Jack said.

Jack and Chris slapped dap with each other and shook each other's hands.

"Be careful, though," Chris said.

"I will," Jack said.

It wasn't long until he and Shadow left the station. Jack and Shadow headed straight for the car. Jack had to see on what he had to do.

_Justice may not be smart, but it should be honest. Chris had a point. Hennessey had a point. I know I was in over my head. I know it had been a couple of weeks, but I still needed to know who had my father killed. There was only one man I have in mind. Here I come, Augie._


	7. Justice or Revenge?

The time was now. Jack was ready to get answers from Augie Blatz, the man who Jack suspected ordered his father's murder. Jack knew about his father's issues with Blatz, but what could be the reason to murder Frank? Jack was about to find out.

It had been hours since he went to HQ to talk with Hennessey about going back to work. It was not like Jack was suspended, but rather on leave because of Frank's death and needed time to grieve, even though he went through some problems of his own in that time. It was an autumn evening in the middle of October. Frank's murder occurred on September 21st. That night will forever be ingrained in Jack's mind.

Jack sat in his apartment. Shadow sat close to him. Jack had fed Shadow as he needed his second and final meal of the day. Jack had the TV on as a news program was on. He had a couple of pistols in front of him, as well as magazines in case he needed to reload. He wasn't sure if he was going to go in shooting, but in his case, you never know. He had on a pair of slacks and a blue long-sleeved button-down shirt. If he was going to a club, he would need to blend in somehow. He just won't wear the shirt tucked in. He even looked at his badge, even though he was going off the books here and doing things on his own. But he needed it if he was going to verify that he was a cop.

"In other news today, mayoral candidate Gloria Exner announced that if she wins the upcoming election, she plans to lower a lot of the corruption in Grant City," said Kip Waterman, the news anchor on the TV. "Grant City's current mayor, William Pinnacle had this to say."

On the TV, a rather stocky man with a pinstripe suit and black hair and a handlebar mustache appeared. It was the mayor himself.

 _"Citizens of Grant City, I am well aware that there is a major crime problem on our hands,"_ Pinnacle said. _"But at the moment we are doing everything we could about it. Currently, Grant City's Anti-Crime unit has been making progress in helping bring down the crime element."_

"Bullshit," Jack said to himself. It wasn't long until the mayoral candidate appeared on TV, as it displayed a woman with sandy blonde hair and wore a gray suit.

 _"I've been witnessing a surge in crimes lately,"_ Gloria said. _"More innocent people are getting murdered. Drugs and illegal arms getting trafficked on the streets, and I don't doubt that some people are being trafficked themselves. Something needs to be done soon."_

Jack realized that this woman was the one whom his father was doing a job for. Frank was a private investigator and because he was working for the mayoral candidate, there had to be something big enough that a political candidate enlisted his services for this. But what was it? Could it be linked to the murder? He was determined to figure it out.

_Pinnacle said that the GAC unit has been doing their part in bringing down crime? That's the biggest load of shit I've heard. Jack thought. Grant City Anti-Crime tries to be a new breed of SWAT, but from I've seen they use excessive force. As for Gloria Exner, she must know something, but first things first._

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Jack looked up. Someone was at the door. He got up and gripped a pistol just in case.

"Who is it?" Jack said.

"It's Hildy."

For the second time this week, Hildy decided to come by and check on him. Nevertheless, Jack opened the door for her to walk in. It was evening, so it could probably be just a quick visit before she took off to work her bit at The Den of Iniquity.

"You should have called first," Jack said as he let her in. She was wearing a coat with a black turtleneck crop top and pair of dark jeans.

"I was just in the neighborhood and being that you had been, well, you know, I just thought I'd drop in before I head to work," Hildy said.

"At that strip club?" Jack said with a touch of derision.

"Come on, the money's good," Hildy said. "Besides, I make a lot of money in tips and the checks. I just came by to see how you're doing."

"I'm doing better now, thanks," Jack said. "After I went to a biker bar and got jumped, I realized that I needed to move forward. I could have gotten killed if Chris didn't come in and save my ass."

"How lucky you were that your partner and best friend came in," Hildy said. "I know it's been hard to deal with your dad's death, but those bikers could have killed you. Shit, Jack, you took off to a fucking biker bar! You know damn well that cops are not welcome at those places."

Jack sat there and said nothing. Hildy stated the obvious, but it wasn't hard for her to see that that was the point after all.

"Well, the good news is that I'm going back to work," Jack said. "I can't let this shit bother me."

"That's good," Hildy said. "After your behavior the other night, I got really worried about you."

Jack looked up at her dead in the eye. While he was appreciative that she checked in on him, as well as the fact that he was no longer grieving in dangerous ways, he was still determined to get some answers soon, really soon.

"Tell me something, Hildy, since Augie runs the Den of Iniquity and the Flaming Mamba Lounge, where would I find him?" Jack said.

Hildy shot him a look of fear and concern, like she knew what he was about to do.

"You can't be serious," Hildy said.

"I have to know if he had something to do with my father getting shot that night," Jack said.

"I understand your motivation, Jack, but this is crazy," Hildy said. "I know that you were still mourning your father's death when you went to that biker bar, but Augie has bodyguards all around."

"I have my ways," Jack said. "I'll manage to get by them."

Unease flowed through Hildy's veins in that moment. She would be rather supportive in Jack's choice in the matter, but the fact that he was going against a crime boss in Grant City was something really steep.

Hildy sighed. "Okay, Jack, I just hope you're careful with this. The thing I will tell you is that Augie has his own office just up above both of the clubs. The Flaming Mamba Lounge and the Den of Iniquity are connected because he owns both places, but your best bet would probably be the Flaming Mamba Lounge."

"I know," Jack said. "Just one more thing, Hildy."

"What's that?" Hildy said.

"If I don't make it, I would like for you to give Shadow a good home, if that's okay," Jack said. "Otherwise I can always check with Chris to see if he could do it."

"I wouldn't mind that," Hildy said.

"Thanks," Jack said and packed his pistols in a black jacket that he would wear over his shirt. Hildy still looked at him like she was unsure about all of this, but nonetheless, she leaned in and gave him a hug, and also told him to be careful. It wasn't long until she left the apartment.

Jack turned and looked towards Shadow. He looked at the dog dead in the eye. Normally he would need Shadow's help on this, but he couldn't bring Shadow inside of a nightclub. However, if anything else were to go down, he would always need his trusty pet and attack dog along with him.

"Come on, boy," Jack said. Shadow barked and followed him out the door.

* * *

_It was a busy night in Downtown Grant City. The nightlife was booming with the bars and clubs packed with a lot of clientele getting their drink on and getting down, maybe also in the hopes of bringing home someone they meet. Right now, my mind was only on getting Blatz to talk. I know it wouldn't be a smart mood to carry my guns into the club, but I could try getting in through another area to blend in. But right now, all that mattered was trying to get in._

Jack had sat in his parked car with Shadow in the backseat. He looked around and saw a long line of people outside the Flaming Mamba Lounge, which was just across the way from the Den of Iniquity. This would be the first place to check out, and maybe the Den of Iniquity if Blatz was not at the dance club. The only other option would be the Blue Fly Club, which was only a few blocks away from there.

Jack told Shadow to sit tight and that he'll be back. He had to search for an alleyway to see about getting in through another way. He found one just to the right with an open gate. It was time to get some answers. Jack got out of the car. He had his pistols holstered so he wouldn't draw any unwanted attention and didn't want to put any patrons in harms way if he didn't have to. Plus, he was a policeman, so it was his duty to make sure any patrons just have a good time and not get hurt. He reached the open gateway, looked to his left to ensure the bouncers didn't spot someone trying to sneak in.

A long alleyway was right in his line of sight. All Jack could do was go down the way and hide if he saw any bouncers or even any of Augie's fellow soldiers just having a smoke and/or hanging out in the cool autumn weather in the evening. Whenever Jack spotted a bouncer, he quickly went up and grabbed him in a sleeper hold just to knock him out. It wasn't long until he found an open door through the back. He looked around and saw some other bouncers just hanging out, even with some of what appeared to be Augie Blatz's bodyguards as they were wearing suits and other professional clothing, like long-sleeved shirts with ties or without ties but also wore slacks.

In the dark hallway, Jack saw a light at the end. In fact, there were multiple lights, ranging from green to hot pink to red to blue. In fact, the door led to a hallway that was near the entrance of the nightclub. There were green lights shining on the walls and going upwards near a flight of stairs where the VIP section was and then in the opposite side with red lights on the other wall. Jack walked around while "Believer" from BT blared over the speakers. He finally made his way onto the checkered dance floor with lots of people dancing, as well as people hanging out by the bar.

"Hi there, handsome," an attractive Asian-American woman said as she stood close to Jack, who looked up right at her. "Want to dance?"

"Not right now," Jack said as loud as he could with the music blaring all over the club and the red and blue lights glaring over the clientele.

Jack continued to struggle to move through the crowd until he saw what looked like an elevator that had a sign that read, "DO NOT ENTER: STAFF ONLY."

Has to be it. Jack thought. Even with all of the patrons getting down on the dance floor, whether it's drinking, taking some Ecstasy, or even just dancing, Jack managed to make to some steps that led to the elevator. He didn't care. He just went right for it and pushed the button to go up.

From a distance, a bouncer looked on the other end of the club whether the elevator was, shoot a look that made him wonder if someone was using the elevator. He quickly got out a walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

"Everyone, upstairs, we have a trespasser going up there," the bouncer said. "Make sure you deal with the problem."

 _"Roger that, copy,"_ a voice said in the speaker.

* * *

DING! Jack reached the third floor. A hallway was seen with lights glaring on the walls and arched doorways. Jack was going to be very quiet about this. Some bodyguards were seen hanging out in what looked like the lounge area with a coffee table and a couch. Jack hid behind the wall. The number of guys was three. Out of the door walked two familiar faces. In fact, they were the Volkoff brothers, Boris and Dimitri.

What the hell are those guys doing with someone like Blatz? Jack thought. The brothers were known for importing knock-off clothing, as well as being bodyguards. Of course, Jack busted Dimitri for something unrelated to knock-off clothing.

"Hey, have you seen anybody around here?" Dimitri said.

"No, why?" one of the soldiers said.

Boris added, "One guy downstairs said that he saw someone come up here. We got to check it out."

 _Shit._ Jack thought. Jack looked ahead and saw that they weren't drawing weapons or anything like that. But Jack remembered that he was heated as well. The moment anybody even tries to get close, maybe it would be a good idea to make a move.

The Volkoff brothers walked with the bodyguards to search for the intruder.

"Intruder, come on out," Boris said. "We promise we will not hurt you and take you back down to the club."

Jack kept quiet. _At least they are generous enough to just take an intruder back down to the club. For all they know, I'm just a drunk patron who came across the elevator and went the wrong way._

He kept his back against the wall near a corner. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pistol. It took maybe a few seconds until the left side of his peripherals saw a shadow and then a bit of face. Jack acted fast and drew his handgun and pointed to the side of his head.

"Freeze, asshole," Jack said.

Behind the man, the others went to a stop. Knowing that they were going to react and that he was outnumbered and were likely to kill him on the spot, Jack quickly grabbed the bodyguard, wrapped his left arm around the man's neck and pulled his body against his and pointed the pistol to the right side of his head.

"Fuck, it's Slate!" Dimitri said.

"Shit, it's that fucking cop!" Boris said.

The Volkoff brothers drew their weapons, as did the other two bodyguards.

"You guys come any closer, I will blow this guy's head open," Jack said. "Where the fuck is Augie?"

"What the fuck do you want, Slate?" Boris said.

"Answers, I want to speak to Augie now," Jack said and pressed the barrel against the man's head, finger on the trigger ready to pull it.

Some of the other bodyguards had their weapons drawn ranging from pistols to shotguns, pointed right at Jack, as if they could try to get a shot at him. But Jack was too smart as he moved the man's body around. Even then, the ones wielding shotguns don't have the right weapons as even if they would so much get a shot, some of the buckshot would land on their cohort.

"I promise you, I will fucking kill him unless you tell me where Augie is," Jack said.

"You won't do shit," Boris said.

"What makes you think that I won't?" Jack said.

"You're a cop, Slate, and don't cops follow rules?" Boris said.

Dimitri, being the more level-headed one than the others in the moment, decided to speak up.

"Everyone, please calm down," Dimitri said. "I'm not going back to jail and I damn sure won't take part in killing this cop. So please, let him pass."

Boris looked to his brother with an annoyed expression. "Dimitri, why are you doing this? He arrested you, remember?"

"Exactly, Boris, I don't want to go back to jail," Dimitri said. "He said he wants to speak to the boss, so please, just let him do it."

Boris sighed and turned to look at Jack in the eye. "You win this round, Slate. You took my woman, you kicked my ass, and you threatened to arrest me. I will get you one day."

"Ruby's got nothing to do with this," Jack said. "I assure you that I just want to speak to Augie. That's it, nothing more."

Boris started to chuckle. "If only you knew what Ruby does sometimes."

"What?" Jack said. "Never mind."

Jack, not trusting that those guys will start opening fire the moment he lets the guy go, continued to hold the man in a human-shield position and at gunpoint. He walked backwards towards the door continuing to look directly at them. However, the one thing on Jack's mind was what Boris just said about Ruby. What did he mean? Now was not the time to get to that. It was time to talk to Augie. As soon as Jack saw the doorknob, he quickly let the man go as he shoved him away and quickly grabbed the knob and quickly went inside the room.

Inside a large office were three men at a table playing poker. Two men close by, whether they were playing the game or just standing guard, that wasn't important. The one person dead in the center, wearing eyeglasses, a brown leather jacket, and a red button-down shirt with brown shoulder-length hair was the one man Jack came to see. It was Augie Blatz himself. The office was dimly lit, with a desk in the back of the room, a ceiling fan above the table, and some paintings on the wall.

"Well, hello, Officer Slate," Augie said. "What brings you out on a night like tonight? So you're the intruder that one of my guys downstairs told us about. You want to join us, a hundred dollar ante, or is that too rich for a cop's salary?"

Augie and some of the other guys around started laughing at that comment. Jack was unfazed by the comment. He smirked a bit. Rather than be angry, he was just calm about this, knowing that this guy was messing with him as if he tried anything, the guys in this room or in the hallway nearby would mess him up or worse.

"It's real simple, Blatz, you lie, you die," Jack said. "There is one thing that I want to know, though. I want to know why your boys knocked off my father a few weeks ago. I have a feeling you had something to do with it."

"Whoa, whoa, hey, I know your old man's dead, but come on," Augie said. "I'm not going to lie that I was shocked to hear your old man dying a few weeks ago."

"Shocked, my ass, I know you had something to do with it," Jack said.

"You really think I would have my boys follow your father and try to kill him like that," Augie said. "I know your old man and I had our battles, but give me a fucking break. You think I'm going to waste my fucking time on a private detective?"

Augie stood up and scoffed at everything that just happened.

"How the hell did you get past my security?" Augie said. "None of that shit matters. Take him out, boys!"

Augie took off running towards a door in the back of the room. Without any hesitation, the other bodyguards in the room quickly drew weapons. A couple of them even had shotguns. Jack wasted no time in jumping near a coffee table and a couch as he ducked in front of the sofa for cover. The other men quickly opened fire.

 _Think fast, Jack._ He heard one of the guys fire his shotgun. It blew off a few pieces from the top of the couch. What was even worse was that buckshot was to his right. Could he have been hit? He was not about to find out. He got lower and crawled out into the surface. He pointed the pistol towards the shotgun-wielding guy, who happened to be wearing a ballistics vest on the outside for some reason.

BANG! The man with the vest howled in pain, as he got shot in the leg. Jack knew that he was in a "do or die" situation and also a "kill or be killed" situation. Jack went forth and fired a slug right into that man's dome. Another had a pistol and quickly dropped as Jack pumped four shots into the man's chest from both of his pistols, with blood splattering out from the chest and back. The blood continued to drip as the body lied on the floor. The same could be said as the man who took the slug to the head.

The final two, however, were wielding Kalashnikovs. Jack knew that if he left himself wide open, he would be down if they let out at five shots to him with those being automatic rifles. Jack was open enough as he hid under the poker table. Sure, it could be as simple one of them either ducking down and opening fire, or even firing through the table and the bullets going through.

Nonetheless, Jack quickly jumped up, knocking over the table with all of the cards and poker chips falling and scattering all over the place. He jumped and dove, with one pistol pointing at one guy and the other pistol pointing at the other guy.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Jack kept firing and firing letting out any bullets on the two men. It didn't matter where they landed, just as long as they hit the men. There weren't a lot of options for cover in such a small space. Blood spilled out from any of the areas where the bullets landed. Both men fell to the ground. Jack quickly picked up one of the assault rifles and also the shotgun. Both weapons had straps, in case he wanted to switch them. Right at the corner in the back was the door where Augie made his escape. Jack went and opened it and found a stairwell that went upstairs and downstairs.

 _You can run but you can't hide, Augie. I will find you._ Jack thought and went out the door. Not long after gunfire ceased, the others from the hallway went inside and found the corpses of their fallen comrades.

"Shit, did Slate do this?" Boris said.

"That cop doesn't mess around, brother," Dimitri said.

The other guys came in and saw the mess and then saw the barely closed door.

"That cop must have gotten out of there," one of the bodyguards said. "The boss isn't here, though.

"Let's go after him," Boris said. "Come on, boys."

Jack had finally made his way outside. He was in an alleyway, the same alleyway where he had to sneak into the club through. At the very end, Augie stood there, probably awaiting his fellow bodyguards in case they got the job done. But he was wrong. Augie saw Jack, as he had a look of relentlessness on his face ready to finally get to the bottom of everything.

"Oh, fuck me," Augie said and pulled out a pistol and started to open fire, causing Jack to duck as the shots missed him.

"Fuck this shit," Augie said and took off running. Jack wasted no time and started running after him. His car was parked nearby and clicked the doors unlocked and quickly got Shadow out.

"Come on, boy, let's go," Jack said.

Jack and Shadow continued to run as Augie was in their line of sight. Augie was far from them, but not far enough that Jack and Shadow couldn't see him. As Augie ran, he saw some other guys of his on the street, probably out walking for a break or to patrol areas of any questionable activity.

"Help, someone get this crazy fucking cop off my ass!" Augie said.

The nightlife was crazy in this part of town. There were so many people out just having a good time. But not in these parts, as they reached a darker area, probably close to Chinatown. Any other soldier that was around was ready to be on the lookout for anybody running quickly had weapons drawn. Knowing that he was still an officer of the law, Jack let out a shot to a man's leg and arm, causing him to drop to the ground close to an alley.

Some mobsters were smarter than to try to kill someone in public like this. Augie ran through an alley with more mobsters strapped, ready to shoot to kill. In fact there were two men ready to kill Jack if he got any closer to their boss. One guy held a shotgun and cocked it, ready to open fire and ducked behind a dumpster, while the other guy hid behind a trash gun wielding a Mac-10. As Jack and Shadow got closer, both soldiers popped up ready to fire their weapons.

Shadow quickly emerged and pounced on the shotgun-wielding gangster and got him down to the ground and started biting him in various areas of the man's anatomy, causing to scream in pain.

"AAAAAHHHH! MY FUCKING BALLS!" the man screamed.

Before the man with the SMG could try to fire at Shadow, Jack put away his weapon and slowly moved in a sneaking motion. He looked to Shadow and shook his head to him, to which Shadow complied. Jack quickly went to the man's side and rushed him, grabbing him from behind, punching him and elbowing him a couple of times and moving right in front of him and grabbing him by the neck, delivering a stunner move of some sort, taking the man down.

 _I could try to kill these guys, but I'm a cop, and I have my own agenda to worry about._ Jack thought.

Both Jack and Shadow looked up and at the end of the tunnel, more lights were to be seen. They both ran to the very end. One thing that caught Jack's attention was the Bay Bell Tower, one of Grant City's prime hotels in the city. Blatz had a penthouse suite. It was time to end this.

The two ran as fast as they could to get to the entrance of the hotel, which had some posters on the windows of "Vote Gloria Exner for Mayor 2002," even though the election was not until the following year. They entered the hotel lobby as soon as they could, with all of its bright gold and yellow layout near the front desk and immediately went to the farthest elevator on the left side of the corridor, with that one likely reaching the top floors of the hotel. They quickly got in and went up.

They reached the top floor, where the suite was. They went down a hallway and found a door that with a sign saying "PRIVATE PROPERTY" on it. It had to be the place. Jack reached for the doorknob and opened the door. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't locked. It didn't matter, Jack had Augie right where he wanted him. The room was dark with windows overlooking the city, artwork on the walls, and a piano.

"End of the line, Augie," Jack said. "Why don't you do us both a favor and go for your gun?"

Jack slowly went into the room and found something that he didn't expect to see: Augie Blatz tied and gagged to a chair.

"What the hell?" Jack said.

BANG! A gunshot was heard, let out, and hit Jack in the back. The question was who made the shot.

From behind, a flamboyant-looking man with a purple dye-job on his hair, an eye-patch covering his right eye, a purple jacket, and of course, holding a golden Ruger Mark IV caliber pistol stood there and watched as Jack fell from the shot. The man was an assassin known as Patch.

"You're welcome to fall at anytime," Patch said with a British accent.

Jack dropped face down, still with the pistol in hand. Patch walked up and kicked Jack's body onto his back and then delivered a swift kick to his side. Patch reached for Jack's pistol and grabbed it.

"Why thank you," Patch said. "You make the creative process so much easier for me."

Patch walked up in front of Augie, who was squirming and trying to scream for help even through his gag. Patch, however, fired a round into the man's forehead, finally doing Blatz in. The blood splattered all over the couch and the carpet, and also some got on the wall behind him.

Patch turned towards Jack. "Good shot, officer. Well I'm amazed that Mr. Blatz was able to squeeze off a round in self-defense."

Patch went and picked up Augie's gun that was on the floor and put the gun in his hand. He also found a rag to wipe the grip of Jack's pistol and put the pistol back in Jack's hand. Though the shot wasn't fatal, Jack was a bit disoriented, especially from the shot he took in the back.

"Your sketch is complete," Patch said as he got out a cellphone to make a call. "You are certain the second subject is to be of still life. What have you like, it's your gallery. I'm just the artist."

Jack lied there, still disoriented, listening to what this flamboyant assassin was saying. He looked at this profession as art. Whatever the case was, he must know something.

For some reason, Patch squatted before Jack as he still lied there.

"Just relax, officer. Hopefully the ambulance will arrive in time. Unfortunately, they'll be bringing in many, many more cops, but what can I say? You probably don't realize how much skill it took not to paint the floor with your brain matter, but my client wants you alive. Wouldn't be my choice, but he says killing cops is bad business. Oh, and because you might find it of interest, Augie Blatz did _not_ kill your father."

Lucky for Jack, that gunshot was not fatal. But it turned that things were about to take a turn for the worse.

_I'll remember what that guy looked like and what he said. He used my gun to kill Augie, which means I am fucked. With that being said, I know I'm on my way to Iron Point. This is only the beginning. I also wondered what Boris meant about what he said about Ruby._

It wasn't long until Grant City police officers and EMTs went up to the suite to go take Augie's body, and also Jack away. Patch was long gone by that point. Jack told himself that he will remember that guy. Even though he was on his way to prison, he was planning on finding that guy again. With the way how the justice system worked in Grant City, charges probably won't stick and he will be out of Iron Point in no time. But would be allowed on the force again, that was the question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a pretty lengthy chapter and I planned for it to be this way. I thought about splitting it, but I thought that it would have been better if I did it this way.
> 
> In the original game, Jack went and shot a bunch of people but with him being a cop, I deviated it a lot to show that cops have rules. I'm even doing the same thing in my True Crime story, but I also have some bits where the cops do kill if necessary. Besides, as noted before, this story is an alternate continuity story and a bit of a divergence because the original game's story is a mess and had a lot of problems, especially with the writing and the characters.
> 
> Oh, and if the ending of this chapter didn't already say it, this is only the beginning.


	8. Convicted

_There was nothing I could do. Right after that guy fled the crime scene, I was stuck with Blatz's body on the couch, tied, gagged, and worst of all, with his brains all over. It did not take long for the police to respond. All I was met with was the GAC squad busting in. It wasn't long until Hennessey stepped in and I didn't have to ask any questions. I was taken in just like that._

_Shadow was taken away, but luckily enough, Chris came and took him to be safe. He later called and told Hildy about everything that happened. Hildy kept on her promise that she would take care of Shadow if I didn't make it. However, when I said if I didn't make it, this wasn't what I had in mind._

_It had been a week since I was taken into custody. The trial was set around the same time. There was no way I was going to win this one. I had called Judge Albert McGuffin, an old friend of my dad's who had always helped us out of a jam. He said he couldn't do anything. It appeared that from beyond the grave, Blatz still managed to get his lawyers and a judge to preside over the murder case. Hennessey was at the trial, too, as was Mayor Pinnacle. The odds were stacked against me. I was alone. Sure, Chris, Hildy, and Melissa, Chris's girlfriend, all attended my trial, but Ruby wasn't there for some odd reason._

Melissa, Chris's girlfriend was a Hispanic woman, likely of Mexican descent, who worked at the Bay Bell Hotel and was a witness to a robbery that occurred at the hotel that Jack and Chris had an investigated. Jack wondered why Ruby was absent for this. Sure, some people had their own schedules, but Hildy happened to be there, despite their relationship being somewhat rocky as of late.

_None of it mattered, though. I was on my way to Iron Point Penitentiary. But the things that were on my mind were who was behind my father's murder, as well as who that guy was who shot Augie and framed me for it, and what did Boris Volkoff mean that night about Ruby? With a jury of Augie's peers, as well as a corrupt lawyer and judge involved, I was fucked. There was no way out of this shit, but it's just like Chris's father always said, I have to have faith. There had to be a way out of this._

_It didn't take long for the jury to decide Jack was guilty for the murder. The bullet that was used to kill Augie Blatz matched with Jack's gun. Even worse, because Blatz had given back to Grant City's communities and was a beloved philanthropist, Jack was sentenced to death row, but who knows how long it would take. But it's like what Jack thought, there **had** to be a way to get through this._

Jack had arrived at Iron Point Penitentiary. He was immediately a marked man by the general population. With him being a policeman, it would likely be better if he was in solitary confinement, but given the corrupt justice system in Grant City, maybe he was put in gen pop for a reason. It was like whoever put him there, as well as sentenced him to death row, they likely wanted to have him gone sooner or later. Only Jack wondered who the puppet master was.

On the plus side, he ran into an old friend as he shared a cell with that man.

"Hello, Jack." A deep voice grabbed Jack's attention when he brought to his cell. This man was older, African-American, and wore glasses. Over his orange jumpsuit, he had a chain with a crucifix on it. The man was none other than Prentiss Jones, aka Preacher.

"Padre, Preacher Man," Jack said. "What a surprise that we would be cellmates."

"It's not like there is we have a choice on who to share a cell with," Preacher said.

"Well, I'm glad that it's you," Jack said.

"Thanks, Jack, I'm sorry about your old man," Preacher said.

"Thanks, Padre, it's been rough for me," Jack said.

"Your father was a good man, he raised you right," Preacher said. "How's my boy doing out there?"

"Chris is doing fine," Jack said. "You raised him right, too. In fact, he saved my life recently."

Chris, Preacher's son, had been a cop for a little longer than Jack, as he had joined the police force sometime after his time with the Marines was done. If anything, Chris was the veteran cop of the two partners.

"Have you met the warden yet?" Preacher said.

"No, not yet, but I hear he's a real piece of work," Jack said.

"You don't know the half of it," Preacher said. "Sickle is like the devil around here."

"Sickle?" Jack said. That had to be the man's name, or at least nickname.

 _Chris had told me about the warden of this place being a real asshole._ Jack thought. _But I wonder how much of dick this guy really is._

It wasn't long until some prison guards, along with a man in a crew-cut and a dark suit walked into that cell block. With the prison being that open, Jack looked outside and saw this man in particular accompanied by some guards. This guy was tall, a bit muscular, and looked through the cell door with a malicious smile on his face. It had to be the warden.

"Well, well, if it isn't the killer cop and the preacher," Sickle said. "Oh, I've been looking forward to meeting you, Slate."

Jack could already see that this man lived up to his reputation. He had only heard about the warden through Chris, but Preacher had to experience what this guy does.

"I bet you're gonna be really popular around here," Sickle said with such malice in his voice. "You're not just fresh fish around here, but I'm sure that some of these guys around here like bacon, too. Yes, I bet you know a _lot_ of guys in here."

Sickle let out an evil laugh. This man already got under Jack's skin. Jack felt like he was in Hell. It was certain that Jack may come across some familiar faces. The question on his mind was how long he will last in a federal prison.

* * *

**ONE WEEK LATER…**

It had only been a week since Jack's conviction and he already had a visitor. But who would come to visit him? He was about to find out. Jack was led to the visitor area. Many inmates were sitting in front of plate glass talking through telephones to their visitors. At the empty space, on the side of the window was a short-haired woman with Auburn hair. It was Hildy. Jack walked up to the window and sat down, grabbed the phone.

"Hildy, what a surprise," Jack said.

"Hi, Jack," Hildy said. "How are you doing in here?"

"Shit's fucked up, but I'm making it," Jack said.

"That's good," Hildy said, looking directly at him in the eye with a look of concern on her face.

"How's Shadow?" Jack said.

"I'm taking care of him, he's fine," Hildy said. "I just don't know what happened. All this shit happened so fast."

"I didn't kill Augie," Jack said.

"Yeah, but I know you wanted to," Hildy said. "Shit, Jack, you know how hard it will be to clear your name?"

"Are you saying you don't believe me?" Jack said.

"I'm not saying that," Hildy said. "I know how hurt you were when your dad was killed. I know you wanted to take him down and you went right to it. You had every reason to. You say you didn't shoot him, but it was your gun that shot him."

"I may have killed some of his thugs, but they shot at me first," Jack said. "Augie fucking told them to take me out and what the hell was I supposed to do? I had him cornered, but by the time I got to him, he was tied and gagged. I didn't any of that shit. Some fucker shot me, but I lived. He spelled every fucking letter out to me and told me that Blatz had nothing to do with Dad's murder."

Hildy looked down and away. What Jack had told her was rather plausible. Sure, it was obvious that Jack had a death wish and had a reason to exact revenge and justice for Frank Slate's death. But if someone went to great lengths to set Jack up for a fall like that, then there had to be some truth to what he had said.

"Anyway, what's been up with you?" Jack said.

"I'm still working at The Den of Iniquity, but I am also looking for some more work," Hildy said. "The place went under new ownership since Augie's death."

After that, a few seconds of silence went through the air as Jack looked away from her for a bit.

"What, what's wrong?" Hildy said.

"There was one other thing that got me that same night," Jack said.

"What's that?" Hildy said.

"Well, you've seen those Russian guys at the strip club, right? Boris and Dimitri?" Jack said.

"Yeah," Hildy said.

"Well, that night when I went after Augie, one of those guys said something about Ruby," Jack said. "He started laughing and told me that I don't know shit about what she does."

"What are you saying?" Hildy said.

"Well, with you and Chris, as well as Chris's girlfriend at my trial, Ruby was nowhere to be seen," Jack said. "I wonder what happened to her."

"Well, I can't answer that," Hildy said. "I wasn't that close with her, but I had heard some rumors."

"What kind of rumors?" Jack said.

"Word has it that Hector Cruz, the guy who manages the Blue Fly Club," Hildy said. "He has a porn ring going on over there and I heard that Ruby might be taking part in their shoots."

"So she's fucking other guys in porno videos?" Jack said.

"I'm just telling you what I heard," Hildy said. "I don't know shit about anything else. Look, I'll come by whenever to see you, okay? I will still take care of Shadow. Just watch yourself in there, okay?"

Jack nodded his head and said okay. He put his hand against the glass, as did Hildy. They looked at each other dead in the eye. With Jack being sentenced to death row and had to do anything he could to survive in prison, he had to figure out a way sooner or later to get out of there. It was going to take some time, but that was his focus and he was going to stick to it.

As for what Jack had heard about Ruby, he shouldn't be surprised. But if she wasn't there to attend his trial, there had to be a reason behind it. She seemed like she genuinely cared about him, but there was something not right about this.

* * *

Inside an office somewhere in mansion located in the outskirts of Grant City, an elderly man sat at his desk but overlooked outside the window. From inside, a few men walked in. One was a man with dark hair who went by Dutch. Another was a bald man with piercings on his nose and ears and a couple of facial tattoos, whose name was Marvin Silt. And finally, a blonde man in black suit who went by Palmer.

"You wanted to see us, Mr. Sanderville?" Palmer said.

The chair spun around as the elderly man faced the three men who stood before him. John Sanderville, a man in his late-70s to early-80s, faced the three men.

"Yes, I wanted to see you guys," Sanderville said. "I wanted to talk to you about Jack Slate."

"What about that guy?" Dutch said.

"You see," Sanderville said as he got out a bottle of bourbon and poured it into a glass. "I want to know if there is anybody on the inside who could whack that fucking pig."

"But sir, it's beyond our control," Palmer said.

"Silence!" Sanderville said. "I know that Slate is on death row and I have my connections across the board. The thing is, I don't have a lot of time left. I'm old and the next one to take my throne after I go, Augie Blatz, had been whacked by the son of a bitch. I was wondering if any of you guys know someone on the inside who could kill that prick, and then maybe I could grant them an early release."

All three men looked at each other like they had no idea where their boss was coming from.

"I know someone," Silt said. "I know someone on the inside who could take care of Slate."

"Enlighten me, Marvin," Sanderville said.

"Some dude on the inside named 'Tattoo,'" Silt said. "I am connected with him. Real piece of work, he can handle Slate."

Palmer and Dutch looked at Silt. It was clear they had heard of Tattoo.

"Are you off your rocker?" Dutch said. "Tattoo is a fucking skinhead."

"I'm just telling you what I know," Silt said. "I can have a talk with him soon about this."

"Well, if you think this guy is right for it, then talk to him and we may have a deal," Sanderville said and reclined in his chair. "Otherwise we may have to wait until 4,000 volts will do the job. Go and try to reach him, Marvin. Dismissed."

The three men turned around and walked out of Mr. Sanderville's office. Palmer turned around and glanced at his boss. What could his boss be planning? With Blatz out of the picture, who could take over the throne when he goes? Sanderville appeared to have a lot of connections throughout Grant City.

In Sanderville's office, he got on the phone. "Hello, yes, I will arrange for something to be done about Jack Slate. Look, I know that there are plenty of other organizations in the city that have their own shit, but this is still my fucking city and I still rule it! Look, Fat Chow, Fahook, Blanjov, I will see what I can do about them, because I still have a hand in all of the criminal activity in the city. If anybody fucks with my shit, I'll send Patch or any of those Mayhem Inc fucks after them. Oh, you're talking about that. Maybe I will have a word with the mayor. Oh, you'll do it? Well, say no more, then. I'll be in touch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this one. I'm just going to say that for the next two or three chapters, I am doing a prison angle. So yes, Jack's in prison. I will also do some time-skips here and there before the inevitable.
> 
> As for the characters in the last bit, I made a mention in the past that I had read a tie-in comic book a couple of months ago. I even noted that I didn't know of its existence until around the time I was brainstorming ideas for this story. It's a tie-in, but the protagonist of the comic was Palmer, who will be in this story. Sanderville was also a character in the comic. It was a tie-in, but the story happened during the events of the first game, but since this story is a retelling of that story (with even characters from DtR2 in it), I am adding in some other subplots to it, but I will try not to make things too confusing.
> 
> Speaking of DtR2, I had to respell a name for one character, Hector Cruz, whose name in the game was spelled "Crooz." As someone who is Mexican-American, I will tell you that there may be alternate spellings of surnames, this is not one of them. So I spelled it the right way.
> 
> As for the opening bit, I had to look into parts about internal monologues in a third-person narrative. So I'm going to do some of that to show what goes on in Jack's point-of-view.
> 
> That's about it. I will continue this soon.


	9. Iron Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had edited the previous chapter and changed the name of Gofer to Dutch and I also rewote some of his lines. The character of Gofer will appear later doing something else. In other words, he will be separate.

One night, Jack slept on the top bunk in his cell. It had been weeks, almost a month since his incarceration. It wasn't his finest hour. A good amount of the population, at least in the block he was in, they wanted his head on a platter. The good thing about this was that Hildy and Chris came to visit from time to time. Even Chris came to visit his father, Prentiss, whom Jack liked to call "Preacherman."

While he was asleep, he started to toss and turn. It has always been known that if someone has visions in their sleep, it won't be long until the person awakens. In that case, Jack started to get these weird visions while he lied there asleep.

Jack found himself back at the construction site for that subway. He saw signs everywhere with the name Pinnacle on them, whether it was the hotels and businesses, as well as Pinnacle Construction as the mayor owned this company and he likely funded for this project. He looked around the site. Several construction workers were strapped, gunshots were heard. Jack ran along with Shadow as the paths on the site widened and lengthened. Many more gunshots were heard.

A trail of blood was seen on the ground, and the more Jack walked down the path, the streak of blood extended right all the way up until he reached the entrance to the subway that was still under construction. The door opened, right before Jack's eyes was Frank, his own father, standing with visible gunshot wounds, blood running down his torso oozing out of the wounds. It was a very unsettling sight, especially with Frank standing there among the living.

"Dad…," Jack said. "You're okay."

 _"Jack,"_ Frank said as if his voice had a weird distorted vibe. _"The man who shot me…"_

"What? Who shot you?!" Jack said.

In a quick flash, Jack found himself back in Augie Blatz's place. He looked around, in this dream, the entire room widened and extended. Jack ran right towards the couch where Augie was tied up and gagged. The feeling of shock never escaped Jack, but he drew his weapon regardless, and then BANG! BANG! The gunshot came from behind. That same flamboyant assassin from before, Patch stood over Jack's wounded body as he looked up right at the assassin holding that golden pistol. Jack looked right at the end of the barrel, ready to seal his fate.

"Ready to die, Officer Slate, I'll make it worth your while," Patch said with his accent and vocabulary. "You wanted to avenge your father's death. I think I can propose a better offer, mate. You shall your father very soon."

The way this man talked, he had this proper way of speaking, as he spoke the Queen's English.

"Kill me," Jack said.

"What have you like, sir," Patch said, holding the gun right to Jack's face and then BANG!

Out of the blue, Jack's eyes popped open as he slept in the top bunk in the cell. Darkness brooded through the windows of the prison. It was late at night. Preacherman slept in the bottom bunk as they shared the same cell.

The dream he had, Jack wondered if there was any meaning. For a few minutes, Jack stared directly at the ceiling.

_All I can think about was those nights when everything had changed, especially the night when my dad was murdered._

_A lot of this did not add up. I know I was brooding with so much rage that I needed to get answers. Augie Blatz was my number one target. Whoever had him killed knew that I would be there right when it happened. Someone had to know about my old man's grudge against Blatz. Whoever ordered this even plotted me to get sent to Iron Point._

_If I didn't go after Blatz, I wouldn't be knee deep in this shit._

* * *

It was the next day. So much was on Jack's mind, ranging from the night his father was killed to the night he was framed. Jack's schedule was pretty basic as he would do some work during the early parts of the day after having breakfast and taking a shower. He would go and handle some tasks in parts of the prison.

But the one place he would often go to alleviate his own personal stress was the prison's gym. For the amount of time he had been locked up, he had been working out a lot; likely making up for the time he spent grieving his father's death when he drank away his sorrows.

Jack had the top part of his jumpsuit undone, revealing a white tank-top, as well as displaying tattoos on his arms, with one reading USMC on his right shoulder. He had lifted weights, ranging from doing arm curls, bench press, and deadlifts. Afterwards, he spent time using the speed bag in the gym. A British inmate approached him.

"Hey there, mate." Jack looked to his right and saw the man coming up.

"Hey, no worries, bloke, just noticing that you're quick with the punches," the inmate said. "My name's Deckard, by the way. I'm impressed with your speed on the bag."

"Um, thanks, I'm just trying to keep fresh with my skills," Jack said. "I'm Jack, by the way."

"I know who you are, mate," Deckard said. "In fact, you're quite well known here."

"Not in the mood to talk about this," Jack said and proceeded to walk away.

"Not so fast, mate," Deckard said. "I hear that a lot of muppets and tossers want your fucking head, and I saw how you are quick with your fists. My advice is that if you need to hone your skills, go see Stinger over by the ring."

Deckard pointed to a bald black man, who looked to be in his late-30s to early-40s. It had to be Stinger. He was throwing punches to a large punch bag close to the boxing ring. Jack walked over to the punching bag. Stinger took a breather by the time he got there.

"Are you still using this?" Jack said.

"Just taking a breather right now, but I saw you with the speed bag," Stinger said. "If you want to use the big bag, go ahead."

A deep breath went out of Jack's mouth as he put on some gloves. The moment Jack went into a stance, he threw a few punches right to the bag. The more he threw them, the more aggressive he got and the punches got harder. It even led to a point where Jack started throwing kicks, as well as a roundhouse kick, and finally a jump spin kick to the bag. Deckard walked up, Stinger looked at Jack's attacks with so much intrigue.

"Not bad, man," Stinger said. "You seem like you have seen a few scraps in your time. Are you a kickboxer or something? With those moves, you sure seem like you've been in some fights."

"Something like that," Jack said. "I have trained in boxing, kickboxing, and Krav Maga. I also served in the Marines."

"Well, I saw how hard you punched, like you got a lot of fire in you," Stinger said. "You ever want to spar, just let me know. Take out your frustrations on the bag. But if you want to show me what you got, just let me know. What's your name?"

"I'm Jack," he said.

"Okay, they call me Stinger around here," Stinger said and shook Jack's hand, especially out of respect for his skills. "If you want to go a few rounds with me, just let me know."

"I will," Jack said and walked away.

The next day, Jack continued his routine. It was hard to adjust to prison life, but he was there and it was something he had to do. It was now lunchtime. Jack walked around and found Preacherman sitting alone at a table. Being that he was Jack's only friend in prison, he often sat with him, if it wasn't enough sharing a cell with him.

"Still thinking about your old man?" Preacherman said.

"Not a day goes by," Jack said.

"Frank was one of the good ones," Preacherman said. "Always did right by me even on the outside. Even before I got in this hellhole, I always told him that God has a plan for all of us."

"Sometimes I wonder if your boy is like a guardian angel to me, especially since I almost got killed one night," Jack said. "And Dad always knew a good man when he met one."

"It's too bad the judge didn't think so, and Chris is a good boy," Preacherman said. "He came by to visit me recently. He asked about you."

"What did you say?" Jack said.

"I told him everything," Preacherman said. "I told him you live in the same cell as me. He even said that next time he comes by, he'll be sure to visit you as well."

"That's great, I'm glad to hear that," Jack said.

As they were eating their lunch, Preacherman's eyes shifted a little to his left. The clarity in his glasses made things apparent as a few inmates from a distance were eyeing Jack. One man had a shaved head and mutton-chop sideburns, he was known as "Mad Dog." Another man had a beanie and sunglasses, was rather muscular and had the top part of his prison suit undone and tied, revealing a plain white T-shirt, known as "Big Arm Tony." Finally, who seemed the leader of the leader of their pack was a man with a shaved had, wearing his prison suit the same way as Big Arm Tony, revealing a lot of tattoos on his arm, as well as a shaved head with tattoos on his head and some on his face. This man was called "Tattoo." The trio of men had their eyes on Jack, like maybe they had something planned.

"Jack, do not turn around," Preacherman said. "But there are some men who look like they want to take you out."

"How many?" Jack said.

"Three men, but like I said, don't turn around or they'll know you're onto them," Preacherman said.

The two continued eating their lunch. The food may be bad, but he needed to show that he had no idea that he was being watched. But out of his left peripheral, he noticed a tall and muscular African-American inmate named Mac hassling a smaller, yet somewhat paunchy inmate who was clean shaven and wore eyeglasses. Even worse, Jack noticed Mac reaching for something, and it looked shiny.

Jack quickly got up and walked towards his left with his tray in hand. Just his tray, as no food was on it.

"Where are you going?" Preacherman said. He was met with no verbal response, as Jack walked right towards the two men. As Mac got out his shiv, ready to shank the guy, Jack sped up and raised the tray. The moment Mac turned to his right, Jack swung the metal tray and clocked Mac right in the face. BAM! The sound of the impact drew the attentions towards other inmates in the cafeteria, as well as any guards that were around.

Mac tried to grab the shiv. It was barely in his reach, but Jack stood over him.

"Don't even try, asshole," Jack said and kicked the blade from Mac's reach.

"Fuck you, pig," Mac said. "Yeah, I know who you are."

"Doesn't everybody?" Jack said, sarcastically.

Mac glowered at Jack for what he just did. Unbeknownst to Jack, Tattoo and his cohorts slowly walked towards, but Big Arm Tony stopped Tattoo, who appeared to have a shiv of his own in hand.

"No, we'll handle that fucker soon," Big Arm Tony said.

Meanwhile, the guards went up to Mac to get him and to separate him from Jack, whom also had some guards near him.

"Stop, wait," the bespectacled guy said to the guards. "This man saved me."

It was clear that he knew that he was about to get shanked, even though Jack and the guards were surprised to hear this.

"Thank you," the bespectacled man said to Jack.

"Don't mention it," Jack said.

"Wait, listen, I'll repay you somehow," the bespectacled guy said. "I owe you, but you got to keep these assholes off me. Some of these guys have been fucking with me lately and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do."

"Okay, I'll keep them off your ass," Jack said. "What's your name?"

"My name is Tim," the bespectacled man said. "But people call me Wireboy. You must be Jack Slate."

"In the flesh," Jack said.

"Well, thanks for saving my ass," Wireboy said.

"Like I said, don't mention it, and I'll keep an eye for any of these motherfuckers," Jack said. Wireboy nodded his head in response to that.

However, as Mac was being taken away, he shoved the guards away from him and turned around.

"This ain't fuckin' over, cop!" Mac yelled. "Next time, I'll fucking stab your motherfucking ass!"

The guards cuffed Mac and walked him out of there. The guards would have likely attacked Jack if it wasn't for Wireboy's intervention. The look of this guy, however, it was likely that he would get shanked any day now, or worse.

Meanwhile, Tattoo and his crew backed away.

"So when do we handle that fucker?" Mad Dog said.

"You let me worry about that," Tattoo said. "I got my connections on the outside. Remember, a guy I know came to me to see about taking out that fuck. I know I will take him out. He ain't that tough."

"We can help you out," Big Arm Tony said. "When you get a chance, put in a good word for us and maybe we can get out, too."

"I'll see what I can do," Tattoo said.

* * *

It had been almost a week. Jack had gained quite a reputation in Iron Point Penitentiary, although it was mixed. While he was still unpopular with some of the inmates, some people were impressed with how he handled himself against Mac. It appeared that Mac was put in solitary confinement after the incident, much to Sickle's dismay, who had it in for Jack for some reason.

Whenever Jack went to the gym, he trained and sparred with Stinger, who also showed him some new moves. Since word had gone out that a lot of people want Jack's head, Jack needed to gain some new moves and also work on some other things such as instinct when it comes to surviving in Iron Point.

Sometime after that, Jack had walked around the prison yard where another gym area was, as well as a basketball court and a table. Jack sat on the bleachers with Preacherman and Wireboy.

"Hey, Jack," Wireboy said.

"Hello," Jack said with little emotion in his voice. "So tell me something, why do they call you 'Wireboy'? And why were you put in here?"

"I got put in here for hacking and extorting some companies," Wireboy said. "I got caught when it was said that I allegedly stole some of the bonds from Temple Industries."

"Temple Industries? You tried to steal from Julian Temple?" Jack said.

"I didn't _steal_ shit but some of the blue hats that Temple has working for him probably mistook me cracking into the mainframe and thinking that I posted some illegal shit on there," Wireboy said.

"You tried to fuck with a rich media mogul, you're likely to get your ass in jail, especially someone like Temple," Jack said.

"Well, computers and technology are my specialty," Wireboy said.

The only response Wireboy got from Jack was a nod. Preacherman turned towards Jack.

"Hey, Jack," Preacherman said. "I see that Tattoo and his boys are looking over here again. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to see what they want from me," Jack said.

"Are you fucking nuts?" Wireboy said. "I hear that Tattoo is connected on the outside."

"Everyone in the place has connections," Jack said. "Just like I know the reason why a lot of people in here want to shank me. You have to know one thing, I have been through a lot of shit, whether it's busting criminals or even in my time in the Marines. I am not afraid of those guys."

And just like that, Jack got up and walked away from Preacherman and Wireboy as they still sat on the bleachers. Tattoo and Mad Dog looked up.

"Hey, look who's coming over here," Mad Dog said.

"Well, well, the pig does have a death wish, huh?" Tattoo said, giggling a bit, reaching for a pocket on his jumpsuit.

"Shut up," Mad Dog said. "He doesn't know anything about that."

The two convicts stood apart, revealing that a table was behind them as Big Arm Tony sat at a table. Right in front of Tony was an empty chair.

"Well if it ain't the killer cop himself," Tattoo said. "You got a lot of balls walking around in this place. I am surprised you ain't dead yet."

"Fuck you," Jack said.

"What do you want, Slate?" Mad Dog said.

"I want to know what your problem is with me," Jack said. "For a while I have noticed that you've been looking at me, like you want me dead or something."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tattoo said, trying to hide it, but Jack wasn't buying it.

"Whatever, I just want to settle this," Jack said. "Why don't we have ourselves a little wager? If I beat you guys, you will stop trying to fuck with me and my crew."

"And if _we_ win?" Tattoo said.

"Well, you get to do what you want, but I still want you guys to leave Preacherman and Wireboy alone," Jack said.

"Can't make that promise, pig," Tattoo said. "But what's the catch?"

Jack looked over and saw Big Arm Tony sitting at the table. For a while now, whenever Jack went to the prison yard, he would see Tony engaging in arm wrestling. Each and every time, Tony would win. There was a reason he was called Big Arm Tony.

"I take on Big Arm Tony in an arm wrestling match," Jack said, to which Tattoo and Mad Dog replied with a laugh.

"I am serious," Jack said.

"You think you can beat me?" Big Arm Tony said. "Okay, how about a round of one arm?"

"You're on," Jack said.

Right then, Tattoo and Mad Dog stopped laughing. Jack went ahead and sat right in front of Big Arm Tony, who had arm ready with his elbow on the table. Jack looked him dead in the eye, even with Tony wearing shades. The hands locked and the match was on. Tony immediately pushed Jack's arm with all of his strength, but Jack didn't budge as he held his right arm up as hard as he could. Tony continued with all of his might to try to get his opponent's hand to hit the table. As a matter of fact, both men tried with all of their might. For a bit, Tony had the advantage, but Jack wasn't about to go down like a punk. Both men breathed hard to continue using their strength. Right when both men were at the starting position, Jack pushed Tony's arm to the left a bit, in his perspective.

There was no doubt that Tony had his nickname for a reason as he was not only muscular and had big arms, but also a lot of strength. Jack pushed Tony's arm down some more as looked like it was getting closer to the table. Big Arm Tony continued to struggle; Jack had this match in the bag. With so much force, Jack pushed Tony's hand right to the table and BAM! Jack was the winner.

Without any word, Jack stood from the chair and proceeded to walk back to Preacherman and Wireboy. From behind, though, Tattoo reached for his pocket and pulled out a shiv. As Jack was walking towards his crew, Preacherman and Wireboy signaled to him with minor pointing. Jack quickly turned around and saw that Tattoo had the blade in hand, in a stabbing position. Jack quickly blocked the shanking attempt and grabbed Tattoo by his right wrist, twisted his arm and hit Tattoo's arm from the bottom as he hit the man's forearm, close to the elbow, fracturing Tattoo's arm. Tattoo howled in pain.

"Nice try, Tattoo, but you're fucking with the wrong man," Jack said.

"Fuck you, Slate!" Tattoo yelled as he held his right arm, aching in so much pain.

But it didn't end there. Mad Dog and Big Arm Tony, along with a couple of other inmates approached Jack ready to attack. But Jack wasn't about to go down without. Mad Dog tried to punch him a few times, but Jack dodged the attacks and laid a few hits on him. Tony tried to attack Jack from behind, but was met with a couple of punches and a roundhouse kick as soon as Jack turned around. However, it wasn't long until Mad Dog and the other two convicts grabbed Jack, letting Big Arm Tony to lay a few hits to Jack's stomach and face. They weren't done, as Tony grabbed a hold of Jack, letting Mad Dog have his turn to give him a beating. But Jack quickly laid a swift kick between Mad Dog's legs.

"Ow! Fuck!" Mad Dog yelled. Tony still held onto Jack, but Jack quickly moved his head back, hitting Tony in the face, causing him to let go.

BANG! A shot was heard. Every convict looked up. A prison guard named Johnson fired a shot from his shotgun in the air, warning everybody and having his fellow guards grab onto Tattoo, Mad Dog, Big Arm Tony, and Jack. They were all taken away back inside the prison.

_There must be some reason why Tattoo wanted to take me out so badly. I know it's not going to end here. If I am going to spend much more time here, I'm going to watch my ass for the rest of my life. There had to be a way out of here. I got unfinished business on the outside._

* * *

Out in Grant City in a tall building known as "Sanderville Heights," in an office was Mr. Sanderville sitting at the end of a table with Dutch and Palmer standing beside him. Right in front of him was a rather muscular man with tan skin, a suit, and a man-bun. Near this man were two women who were twins and had short hair and wore veils. This man was known as Fahook Ubduhl, as it was stated that he was an Arabian prince. No one knew for sure, but he was loaded, had connections, and had power. The twins were named Meeshaka and Shadraka.

"Now, Fahook, before we get down to business, I just want to know if you would like a drink," Sanderville said.

"Of course, I would love a drink," Fahook said.

Sanderville grabbed a bottle of wine and poured some in a couple of glasses. One glass was on his desk, and Sanderville passed the other glass to Fahook.

"Now, Fahook, I understand that you own a lot of property here in Grant City," Sanderville said. "You must know that I have ruled this city for decades and while a lot of organizations may be at war, I believe in the concept of partnerships depending on the, how do I say it? Circumstances."

"Care to elaborate?" Fahook said.

"You see, up until a couple of months ago, I was working with the late Augie Blatz until his untimely demise," Sanderville said. "I thought about having a partnership with the Russians, but Blanjov decided not to work with me anymore. As for others, Fat Chow is only good for his own thing involving providing guns if necessary. But being that you have a lot of wealth and power, I think you could rule Grant City when my time comes."

Fahook sat there with an expression that said, "Hmmmmm, I like the sound of that."

"Well, that's if you're interested in working with me," Sanderville said.

"It doesn't sound like a bad idea to me," Fahook said. "I think we can work a deal, my friend."

"Good," Sanderville said with a smile and put his glass out, waiting for Fahook to do the same so that the glasses could tap each other. "Let's drink to that."

The two crime bosses took a sip of their wine.

RING! RING! RING! Sanderville's phone started ringing. It was his cellphone, at that.

"Let me take this call," Sanderville said. "Hello. Marvin, what's going on? What? I thought you said that he could do the job. No, no, it's not your fault. It seems like we have a bigger problem than we thought. Well, maybe there might be another way to get rid of the problem. I think I will have a word with the mayor about this. Okay, I will talk to you soon, Marvin. Thank you."

After the call ended, Sanderville proceeded to talk with Fahook about his business proposition, but he also remembered that he needed to talk to Mayor Pinnacle about something.

* * *

One day, at a restaurant called "The Oar House," Hildy was there waiting tables there with a fellow waitress named Dominique, a young brunette woman who looked to be in her mid-20s, just a bit younger than Hildy. This restaurant was located close to the docks, but not right at the area. The place served seafood mainly, but had variety on the menu.

Hildy and Dominique were on their break as Hildy went the bar and saw a news program being shown.

"…So what's going on with you?" Dominique said. "I hear you're quite a dancer."

"Hey, I don't want you telling people about that," Hildy said.

"Why not? I mean I don't know why you're doing this and dancing on stage," Dominique said. "You get a lot of tips and stuff. You even said that you have a degree in nursing and medical emergency. Me, I'm just working my way through school."

"It's not easy to try to apply for the med field," Hildy said.

"You can try," Dominique said. "I saw you provide some of the cooks with some care after one cut himself, and when one of them burned himself."

Hildy continued to listen to her coworker/friend, but then looked up at the TV as a blonde female news anchor came on. It was Marla Bales, who was about to read the next story.

_"In other news, Mayor Pinnacle has issued a new development in the case of the murder of Augie Blatz. Blatz was murdered by former Grant City police officer Jack Slate in cold blood. Mayor Pinnacle has issued a release stating that Jack Slate's sentenced to be shortened and that he will be executed this coming May."_

As Dominique continued to talk, Hildy no longer could listen to her. Her eyes widened and her jaw slowly dropped.

"Oh no," Hildy whispered to herself. "Jack."

* * *

Meanwhile, at another restaurant called "Emerson Grill," Chris was having a meal with his girlfriend, Melissa. Chris was coming back to their booth from the restroom and passed the bar, where a news report was shown with the same story. This time the report was done by Kip Waterman. Chris listened to every word that was said and a look of shock and concern rose on his face.

It wasn't long until Chris went back to the booth where Melissa was. Chris sat down but couldn't look his girlfriend in the eye.

"Baby, is there something wrong?" Melissa said.

Chris nodded and took a deep breath. "It's Jack."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for this one. Man, this one was not easy because I had trouble on where to go with this one. The next chapter will be the final prison chapter, by the way.
> 
> The dream sequence at the beginning was inspired by Max Payne, which many people said that the original game was a rip-off of as it came out a year after Max Payne did. I figured if Max could have nightmares about what happened to his wife and daughter, Jack could have the same about his father and also the night he got framed. Even Max Payne 2 had dream sequences, but thankfully no bits involving walking on a trail of blood.
> 
> Although many of the characters from the prison sequence and other ones (except Chris and Melissa, who are my original characters) existed or were mentioned in the original game, Julian Temple was a character from Dead to Rights: Retribution and played a role. No, I'm not going to have him appear (at least I don't plan to). He was just a media tycoon. Besides, I may have included Inness, Redwater, and Marla Bales, all of whom were in Retribution, but I am doing things differently. Hell, Hildy is kind of a composite character with Faith from Retribution, at least how I'm writing her in my story. Speaking of which, I recently bought that game and started playing it, despite having watched the walkthrough on YouTube.
> 
> I'm already planning on what to do for the next chapter. I just got to see how I will do it. Stay tuned.


	10. The Grand Escape

_I was shit out of luck. Not long after the incident with Tattoo in the yard, the warden Dewayne Sickle called me into his office. Mayor Pinnacle was there, along with his personal bodyguard, former boxer Rafshoon Diggs. I knew I was fucked, but just how was the question._

_When I was convicted, I was sentenced to death row, but ever since I became protector for Wireboy and Preacherman, several other inmates wanted my head and theirs. But this was different. Mayor Pinnacle had declared that my sentence be shortened. In other words, this had become a fast track death row sentence._

_There was something not right about this. First I was sentenced mainly for killing Blatz, despite having all of the motivation in the world to do so. Then I was sentenced to death row, and now my sentenced wasn't long from now. Someone must really want me dead so bad._

_But there had to be a way out of this._

* * *

For the past five to six months, Jack had to keep looking over his shoulder. It seemed that word had gotten out that his sentence was shortened, but due to being so unpopular among the general population for being a cop, some people wanted to make sure that his death would come sooner than the exact date he would be given the chair. The issues with Tattoo and his crew were still not done, but after that one day Jack almost got shanked, Tattoo bided his time, at least until something better came along.

One day, Jack was in the cafeteria with Wireboy and Preacherman during the lunch hour. It was a quiet time, especially with the population already aware of Jack's imminent execution that was to come not too long from now.

Jack sat there looking at the table, away from his food on the tray. His eyes and facial expression was at a major stand still, like thoughts went through his head. He knew that he wasn't going to get an appeal, especially with the execution coming soon. One reason was that he was certain that Blatz's lawyer probably got paid off, as did the judge. If he waited it out, he was going to get fried with 1,000 volts going into his body, and there is no way he was going to survive it.

"There has to be a way," Jack said. Suddenly, Wireboy and Preacherman looked up. The silence had been broken right then.

"What are you talking about?" Preacherman said.

"There has to be a way to get out of here," Jack said. "I have unfinished business. I can't go just yet and I can't let my dad's murder go unpunished."

"Jack, I have faith that there is a way out of here," Preacherman said. "In fact, I heard some stuff through the grapevine."

"Talk to me, Padre," Jack said.

"I heard from Tattoo that he, Mad Dog, and Big Arm Tony are planning a break the minute old Sparky makes the lights dim, if you know what I'm saying," Preacherman said. "It turns out that he and his boys got the hookup from some connections on the outside, like a map of some kind."

"Wait, what did you say?" Jack said.

"I don't know much," Preacherman said. "But that's all I heard."

"Wait, I know something." Wireboy cut in right at that moment.

"What do you know, Timmy?" Jack said.

"Could you please not call me that? Just call me Wireboy or Tim," Wireboy said.

"Okay, I want to know what you know," Jack said.

"Look, I think it would be best if you meet me in the workshop soon so I can tell you," Wireboy said. "I don't want anybody around to be listening in on us."

"Okay, I'll swing by after I work out," Jack said. "You need to fill me in on this."

Wireboy nodded and looked up and saw Johnson, one of the prison guards standing around and signaled to him. What was going on now?

Later that day, after Jack had completed his daily workout routine, whether it was hitting the weights, using the punching bags, or even sparring with Stinger, who had shown him some new moves for months now, Jack kept on his word to meet with Wireboy in the prison's workshop. It was only down the hall from the gym.

Jack walked through the door. The workshop consisted of eight different workstations where people would be building stuff. Right at the end, Jack saw a guard standing there.

"Johnson, what are you doing here?" Jack said.

Johnson, one of the prison guards, stood by the door to what appeared to be an office of some sort.

"I hear you need to speak to Wireboy about something," Johnson said. "But I am here because I want to help you bust out."

"Did Wireboy fill you in on this?" Jack said.

"Why don't you go in and talk to him yourself?" Johnson said. "Besides, I owe you for all of the bullshit with Mac."

Jack nodded and went right into the office. Months prior, Johnson had gotten into some stuff with Mac, the same guy who tried to shank Wireboy that one time and got into it with Jack. It appeared that Mac had stolen a picture of Johnson's girlfriend and threatened to have some guys he knew on the outside to rape and maybe kill her if Johnson didn't play ball with him, in that he wanted to try to take out Jack himself, along with some fellow inmates. Of course, Jack wouldn't have any of it and got into another fight with Mac, who was one of the inmates who wanted to cut Jack's sentence even shorter by killing him while in prison. It appeared that Mac had ties to the Scorpions, the same gang that Jack and Chris thwarted at that supermarket. But Mac ended up losing and getting put back in solitary. Jack got the photo back and gave it to Johnson.

Inside, Wireboy sat in the office working on something, using a screwdriver to build something.

"Hey, Wireboy, what do you know?" Jack said. "Do you know of a way out of here?"

Wireboy put down the tool and gave Jack his undivided attention. "In fact, I do, but this is not going to be easy."

"When is anything in life easy?" Jack said. "Remember, you tried to hack into Julian Temple's files."

"Touché," Wireboy said. "Okay, you want to know how to bust out of here. Preacherman told you about how Tattoo and his boys are planning to bust out of here the night of your execution. Well, I know of a way. Johnson has been helping me out. He knows some people out there who provided me with a way to get me out of here. The thing he needs to provide you with is a way to get old Sparky shut down."

"Okay, what would I need to do?" Jack said.

"We would need to pour some battery acid on the conduits," Wireboy said. "Theory says that it will bring down the whole grid for a couple of hours. You put it on the contacts and it will bathe into sudden darkness, at least until the security light comes on."

"Are you sure about that?" Jack said.

"This place is older than the pyramids," Wireboy said. "Then again, that's only theory. As for the straps, you would need a razor blade, but you're on your own for that. I could have Johnson bring one in, but you'll need someone to give it to you then."

"I think I'm covered for that," Jack said.

"Okay, but all of that shit is useless without an escape route," Wireboy said.

"Preacher told me that Tattoo has connections on the outside who provided him with a map," Jack said.

"That guy is not the brightest bulb out there, he can't keep his mouth shut," Wireboy said. "You'll have to find a way to get his map to find his route, as well as the entrance. Unfortunately, I can't help you with that."

"Don't worry, I'll figure out something," Jack said. "You can follow me out that way."

"Uh, I have a different way of getting out of here," Wireboy said. "But just know that for all you have done for me, I owe you a lot and I will repay you somehow should we meet on the outside."

"I will keep that in mind, Wireboy," Jack said. "I'll think of something. Anyway, do you know anything about Tattoo's connections?"

"Considering Tattoo's got a big mouth, I hear he knows some people, connected to the Sandman or Mayhem Inc. That's all I can tell you."

_The Sandman, as in John Sanderville? Mayhem Inc, that assassin's guild out of Broadway? I think that guy who shot Blatz and got me framed worked with those fuckers. Looks like I'm getting closer to my father's killer I can almost taste it._

Jack left the room. Johnson still stood outside, standing guard.

Jack said, "You're still here, Johnson?" Or maybe he wasn't.

"Look, Slate, I owe you big time for the stuff with my girlfriend," Johnson said. "Mac would have given his guys outside the green light on my woman. I couldn't let that happen. If you hadn't fucked him up, those guys would have done serious fucking shit to her. I know you're planning a breakout. Let me help you. Besides, I heard somewhere that you want justice for your old man. You probably have more support here than you think. Besides, I don't agree with Sickle's methods. He made Sorreno, another inmate in here eat his cigarette, and it was still lit."

"I'm listening, what do you got for me?" Jack said.

"Okay, so this place is pretty old from what I hear," Johnson said. "I hear that there are some areas that are old that a simple sledgehammer or you can even pick through vents and enter the sewers. I will keep you posted."

Jack shook the guard's hand. It was not going to be easy, but if Johnson was willing to help him out, he had to make sure he was worthy of his trust. If Johnson was opposed to Sickle's methods, then maybe he couldn't be too bad.

* * *

The end was near. It was coming. No one suspected how soon it would come, but it was just about here. Jack already had it down regarding his escape plan, but in the meantime he had to bide his time until then.

One day, Sickle stood around as the convicts walked in single file lines, as they were doing their usual work detail of the day. But when it came time that Jack passed by him, he had other ideas.

"Hey, Slate, I need to talk to you," Sickle said. Jack walked out of the line as the other inmates continued being guided to their cells.

"What do you want, Sickle?" Jack said.

"Just wanted to tell you that it will be a pleasure to see you getting fried on the chair really soon," Sickle said.

"Fuck you," Jack said.

"Yeah, you'll be saying that when you're begging for your fucking life once you have a thousand volts going through your body," Sickle said with an evil smile on his face. "Yeah, I know all about what you did. I'm sure that Augie Blatz will be waiting for you once you get into hell, wanting to give you the punishment you so greatly deserve."

Jack stood there in silence, turned away. At a moment's notice, he moved his head forward directly right to Sickle's face, butting his head right to Sickle's nose, causing him to move backwards a bit.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Sickle yelled. Several guards ran forth, with Johnson being one of them.

"Hold on, I got this," Johnson said and whipped out a taser. BZZZZZT! Johnson held the stun gun right to Jack, causing him to drop. Johnson picked him up and carried him away.

"I got this, Sickle, none of you worry," Johnson said to the warden and the guards.

Johnson carried Jack away from the rest. As soon as they got far enough, Jack quietly said to Johnson, "What are you doing?"

"Relax, just be cool," Johnson said. "I got something you might want."

Johnson pulled out something that looked folded.

"What the hell is this?" Jack said.

"It's a map of the prison," Johnson said. "After Tattoo left his cell earlier, when the other guards weren't looking, I went in and saw that Tattoo had this lying around. You might want to look at it."

"Won't he know that it's missing?" Jack said.

"I'm sure that he has looked at it multiple times and shown it to his men," Johnson said. "He might also know about an entrance to the sewers once the power goes out."

"Do you know where he is?" Jack said.

"He's been skipping out on his work detail," Johnson said. "With the day he coming up, he's been hanging out in the shower area, obsessing over a certain area."

"Whoa, the showers? I don't even want to know," Jack said. "You know what, I need to know about this entrance."

_If this guard is helping me looking for that weasel, then maybe I should look into this. If there's any funny business going on in there, I'm getting the fuck out of there._

Johnson led Jack to the shower area. Once Jack walked through the door and down the mini hall to the main door, Tattoo's voice was so loud that he was able to hear everything that was said. Jack peered over a corner. Despite the setting, Tattoo stood there with Big Arm Tony and Mad Dog, all of whom were fully clothed. It was like they made the showers their office or hangout. From the distance, Tattoo stood near a shower stall that had some cracks on it from the wall down to the floor right next to the drain. The sign on there said "out of order," which was an indication that it was no longer in use until further notice.

Tattoo chuckled. "'Bout the time they flip the switch, we're gonna be halfway back to a hot babe and a cool drink. We're gonna be free, boys!" Tattoo chuckled some more.

"You sure you can trust our ride to be there?" Big Arm Tony said.

"Please, Marvin is my sister's old man's deadbeat brother," Tattoo said. "Thinks he's hot shit because of his connections, but no ride, no money, he'll be there. He's been helping us out lately."

"I hope you're right," Mad Dog said. "I just can't wait any longer."

"That fucking cop is going to wish he never fucked with us," Tattoo said. "I wish I could be there to watch, but all I want is to fuck me a hot babe and get a drink. Maybe we can go to the Black Orchid. I hear they got some nice pussy there."

Jack stood there and listened to everything that was being said, but he did his best to keep out of sight. All his attention was directed towards was that shower in particular. The cracks looked so broken that all it could take is a simple stomp to break through.

 _Well, Tattoo, I got your map now._ Jack thought. _I better not see you on the outside, or is it the other way around?_

As Tattoo and Big Arm Tony continued to talk, Mad Dog looked around but the moment he looked towards one doorway, he noticed something highly irregular. Jack quickly got out of sight and behind the wall.

"Mad Dog, what's wrong?" Tattoo said.

"Thought I saw someone, but I can't tell for sure," Mad Dog said.

It wasn't long until another guard walked into the area from the other entrance on the other side.

"What the hell's going on in here?" the guard said.

"Tupperware party, what's it look like, Keystone?" Tattoo said so snidely.

"Ha ha, very funny," Keystone the guard said. "Hey, you guys seen Slate? Sickle's looking for him and he's pretty pissed. Last we checked, Johnson took him away, but Sickle had a bone to pick with Slate."

"Watching him was _your_ job, Keystone," Tattoo said. "I don't got to fucking worry about Slate no more. The moment he gets on the chair, we're going to be free thanks to you."

"Hey, you better repay your debt somehow," Keystone said.

"What's it to you?" Tattoo said.

"Hey, I found this area, I even had to hide your shit before I gave them to you," Keystone said.

"Okay, okay, we'll work something out," Tattoo said. "Besides, you're okay, Keystone."

Jack peered and listened behind the wall. It seemed that maybe they had their own guard on their side helping them break loose.

 _I had the map and I found what I was looking for._ Jack said. _Now it was time to drop below radar and square up some place safe to review the map, like my cell for instance._

Jack went back to his cell. Johnson was close by because he had to put up the act of him walking Jack to his cell. According to the other guard, Keystone, Sickle was so upset that he wanted to give him a piece of his mind after what happened earlier. But right now, Jack was more interested in finishing the final piece of the puzzle for his escape. With Wireboy, Preacherman, and Johnson on his side, there was no way that this plan wouldn't work.

When Jack got back to his cell, Preacherman sat in his bunk bed reading the bible. He then looked up and saw his cellmate returning.

"Jack, where were you?" Preacherman said.

"Finishing my plan," Jack said. "Look when it happens tomorrow night, when you do the final prayer, I want you to bring in the blade and the acid."

"I'm way ahead of you, Jack," Preacherman said.

"Hey, if this works, Chris and I will be back to get you out of here, Preacherman," Jack said.

"The lord don't like empty promises, son," Preacherman said.

"Faith, Padre, Faith," Jack said.

Jack and Preacherman shook hands at that. Though it would be better to have the Preacherman join in on the escape, he would not be able to keep up, as well as needed to ensure that to any of the prison's staff that he was not involved. Jack was going to keep his word on this, but he had unfinished business.

Jack climbed up to the top bunk and pulled out the map that he had. He looked over it and there was quite an escape route that he could follow.

_Tattoo's map wasn't half bad. It traced a route through that shower drain and a bunch of underground tunnels and ancient drainage pipes. If anything, the sewers were right under the prison. This place was solid, but old and hadn't seen a whole lot of maintenance since Eisenhower was in the White House. I just hope the same could be said about "Old Sparky."_

* * *

The day was finally here. In a lounge, the TV was on with the news doing a report of the countdown to Jack's execution, with Kip Waterman covering the story. According to the news report, it appeared that Mayor Pinnacle was the person who warranted for Jack's fast-track execution, despite opposing pleas from mayoral rival candidate, Gloria Exner, who felt that this was unjust.

To a lot of people, not just in Iron Point Penitentiary, but also Grant City, this was Jack's last day on Earth. For the most part, he continued to study the map of the underground. But Jack knew otherwise, as well as a few others in the prison.

Night had finally fallen. The execution was going to happen. Sickle walked Jack to the room where the electric chair was, along with Johnson and Keystone. Though this prison had a gas chamber, it seemed that for some sadistic reason, someone really wanted to see Jack fry, which was why it was declared that he was going to get the chair.

Outside of the room, Waterman stood there with a microphone talking directly to a camera, as he was providing news coverage of this event.

"In just a few moments, the raging controversy surrounding the murder of Augie Blatz will be put to rest with the execution of fallen police officer, Jack Slate," Waterman said. "Bearing witness today are Mayor William Pinnacle, Deputy Chief Dick Hennessey of the Grant City Police Department, and a number of friends of the victim, among them is former heavyweight champion, Rafshoon Diggs."

Inside, the chair was there with the clock on top as it was almost midnight. Preacherman stood there with a bible in hand. Sickle went up to the chair and shoved Jack to the floor.

"Get in that fucking chair, Slate!" Sickle said. Jack crawled into the chair. Though he wanted to give Sickle his comeuppance, it wasn't the time to do it. Sickle went ahead and put the straps on Jack, including the headpiece.

"Cost me a lot of money to get the pleasure of frying you, Slate," Sickle said with a malicious smile. "And I was a pig, too, you know. I even knew your old man."

Jack sat there. As much as he wanted to attack Sickle again, he was in no position to. Right in front of him was a large man in a pinstripe suit, black hair and a mustache, and started lighting a cigar. That man was none other than the mayor himself, William Pinnacle. Right next to him was Hennessey, rocking a suit. It appeared that he got promoted to Deputy Chief in the time he was in jail. Plus, he was the man who headed the investigation of Blatz's murder and arrested Jack that same night. After that was a muscular African-American man with a blonde man-bun, wearing a vest, a tie, a white shirt with slacks. It was Rafshoon Diggs, a former boxer who was also a bodyguard for the mayor. Then there were the Volkoff brothers, Boris and Dimitri, both of whom worked for Blatz at the time of his death. There were even others such as Hector Cruz, who managed the Blue Fly Club and was also rumored to take part in shoots for pornographic videos. Maybe he even had a hand in some other illicit activity.

 _I didn't think Augie had this many friends._ Jack thought. _For me to get sentenced like this, they all must have wanted to see me fry so badly._

"Well, well, how nice to see you again, Slate," Hennessey said as he walked up to him sitting in the electric chair. "Too bad it was under these circumstances. I knew I couldn't trust you after what you did."

Jack didn't say anything. He knew that Hennessey has had it in for him for a while. If anything, the more supportive superiors he had in the department were Inness and Redwater. Even though Inness was iffy about Jack's methods sometimes, he knew that Jack knew how to get the job done.

None of that was important. He shifted his eyes right to Preacherman, who nodded. Sickle stood right by the electric generator, hand on the switch and everything.

Preacherman before everyone, including Jack, about to do his routine.

"Oh, heavenly father!" Preacherman said. "Look into this man's heart and find the goodness!"

Preacherman did things dramatically, enough that he shook the bible right close to Jack's hand, open and everything, as the razor blade dropped flat into the palm of Jack's right hand. He then went to Jack's left and pulled out a clear tube with some liquid in it.

"Look into his soul with mercy and welcome him into your kingdom with open arms!" Preacherman said as uncapped the tube and poured the liquid onto the conduits, causing smoke to emit. It was definitely the acid, as small sparks flew as well as the smoke.

"Oh, dear God, give us a miracle!" Preacherman said, closing the tube and looking at Jack in the eye and made a nod.

Pinnacle took a puff from his cigar and then cleared his throat. "Okay, okay, now that we're done. It's time."

"Hey, Slate!" Sickle said, still with his hand on the switch. "When you get to Hell, tell them Dewayne Sickle sent you! I'm sure you have some people waiting for you."

"Jack Slate," Pinnacle said. "On behalf of the people of Grant City, I sentence you to death by means of electrocution for murder. Do you have any last words?"

Jack looked right towards the mayor in the eye and said, "Not yet."

"You fucking son of a bitch!" Sickle said and quickly pulled the switch down. Suddenly, the lights went off. A huge flash went off from sparks flying from the damage done to the chair. More sparks flew and flashes went off. Many of the people inside the room yelled out things like "What's going on here?" and "Shut it off!" Another sound was heard, as it sounded like a cry of pain, like someone was attacked.

"What the hell is going on?" The voice sounded like Pinnacle.

"What happened?" It sounded like Hennessey.

"Somebody turn on the damn lights!" Pinnacle said.

Suddenly, the red light turned on, likely the security light. On the floor, Sickle lied there in the fetal position, like he was hit below the belt.

"Sickle, are you alright?" Hennessey said and went ahead to help him get to his feet.

"That Slate!" Sickle said. "After that fucker! Now!"

"I want this place on lockdown, now!" Pinnacle said.

"You don't have to tell me, Pinnacle," Sickle said and got his transceiver. "I want all of you to find Jack Slate. Now, god damn it!"

Many of the guards that were present got out their shotguns and pistols and ran right out of the room. Jack couldn't have gotten far.

Meanwhile, all Preacherman could say was, "Thank you, Lord. Praise Jesus."

Jack ran down the halls. He knew where he had to go. Many of the guards were now on him. The alarm was blaring all over the prison. If that wasn't bad enough, some of the inmates had found themselves out of there cells as well. It seems like some people were seizing the opportunity to get their early release. As soon as any guards grabbed Jack, he quickly threw them off of him. It was time to bust out of here. It was now or never.

As soon as Jack found the shower room, he went right in. Many guards ran in from the other entrance, as did a certain trio of inmates.

"Fuck, it's Slate!" Tattoo said. But Jack wasn't going to have it. He went right to that shower and kicked the wall down as a hole was broken into the sewers. Jack went forth and jumped down there.

The sewers had some light down there, as well as a terrible stench that was in the air, but what could one expect from being in a sewer?

This was no easy feat. All Jack had to do was remember where there was a storm pipe that led into the outside. Being that this prison was massive, he knew that it would take a bit to get out. Luckily, there were dotted lines on the map to lead into the outside. So Jack continued to follow any plausible paths.

"Hey, I thought you knew where you were going." Jack turned around and heard a voice say that.

"I am sure that I do. Someone stole the fucking map!" That voice sounded familiar. Jack turned around. It was Tattoo, along with Mad Dog and Big Arm Tony.

"Fuck me," Jack said and ran down the path.

"Hey, there's that fucking cop! He's got my fucking map!" Tattoo yelled.

The only thing Jack could do was run, or at least try to. The ground was wet from all of the dirty sewer water. The water was shallow enough to try to run a bit.

The whole sewer was damn maze. Jack had to follow it to get out of there. The dotted lines on the map went eastbound, so he needed to head east in order to make sure he could be on the right path.

It wasn't long until other convicts were seen in the sewer. It seemed that Tattoo couldn't keep his mouth shut. But nonetheless, it didn't matter. None of these convicts were important to Jack, and he wasn't important to them as they didn't try to attack him.

If that wasn't bad enough, many of the guards had come down into the sewers, as well as guys dressed in all black gear. It would have to be some of the riot squad. It really shouldn't be that much of a surprise. With a corrupt warden at Iron Point, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that riots would take place. Hell, Jack even experienced some in the seven months he had been in there. Pinnacle must have had them come in and Sickle may have agreed to it.

Considering that they were armed, all Jack had to do was run faster than before. Much to his surprise, Tattoo and his two cohorts weren't too far behind. After all, they were in the sewer around the same time Jack got in there. That was their plan when the power would go out, until the security lights went on and the prison went into lockdown.

Jack, along with Tattoo and his cohorts, and other convicts that made it far enough, were getting closer. They all have traveled a distance. The one thing that Jack noticed at the far end of the tunnel was a gate of some sort.

Freedom, that's all Jack could think. There was no going back. He was going to make it out of there.

"Hey, Slate!" Jack turned around.

 _Tattoo, I didn't think he'd get this far without his picture book._ Jack thought. _Somehow he managed. I'll give him that._

But Jack didn't want to turn his attention to him. He just kept going until he passed through the door and went forth until he saw a ladder that went up. The moment he started climbing, he knew he was home free. No turning back now. Jack started climbing up and climbed up until he reached something solid above him. Jack looked up and pushed the thing up. It was definitely a hatch of some sort to get into the sewers. Once he opened it, he climbed out. Right behind him were the spotlights and alarm still sounding from the distance. But Jack didn't care; now he wondered how he would get into town.

As soon as Jack walked right onto the road, lights came on from his right. He looked that way. They were headlights. Could he have had a ride back into town and he just didn't know?

The car was a four-door sedan. The second Jack stepped onto the road, the car came rushing towards him. Jack looked on and quickly ran and jumped out of the car's way onto the ground across the street. The car hit the brakes. Jack went and hid behind a rock. He was out in the sticks and that was where the prison was located. Suddenly, Tattoo, Mad Dog, and Big Arm Tony were seen approaching that same car. Jack hid behind the rock and faced the front of the car. The license plate was visible, as was the number. The number was just word that said "MSILT" on it. The driver of the car had a bald head and facial tattoos, but not to the extent of Tattoo himself, who even had tattoos on his head. That should narrow it down.

Lucky for Jack, he may have to give his good friend Chris a call soon, as well as someone else, like Hildy. But in the meantime, he needed to get back into town.

For about an hour, Jack walked down the open road. It was going to be a bit before he would head into any part of Grant City. Also, he wondered where he would need to lie low. A light glared on him and on the road. Jack turned around and saw what looked like a truck of some sort. It was probably someone passing through Grant City to drive along the open road at night. The truck stopped and opened the window to the passenger side.

"Excuse me, sir, I couldn't help but notice you walking along the road like that," the trucker said. "Would you like a ride into town?"

Jack approached the door. "Yes, please. Just drop me off at the Bay Bell Hotel if you can."

It was around 1:30 AM, close to 2 AM. The nightlife in Grant City was still going for some reason as the hotel lobby was still bright with its lights on. Jack knew that he would look suspicious going through there in his prison outfit. But there was one place in particular that he was going as the moment he walked in, he approached the elevator. The woman at the front counter looked like she could barely keep herself awake in that moment. Jack pushed the button and headed the top floor. Jack walked through a door with police tape that looked to be broken over time. It was definitely a familiar place that no one bothered to look at in months, especially after a certain incident.

_They say every criminal returns to the scene of the crime, but very rarely do the good guys. By now, Hennessey would have my apartment under watch 24/7. But I was willing to bet that that crime scene was still open thanks to the usual assortment of bureaucratic snafus. I'd hole up in Blatz's penthouse, let things cool down for a bit while I plan my next move. I wasn't going to get very far dressed like an escaped convict, so I figure I'd borrow some of Augie's clothes. He wouldn't be needing them anymore now that he's six feet under._

_I had plenty of work ahead of me – solve my father's murder and find the guy who set me up. And to do that, I was going to need guns and information, more or less in that order. And there's one place where both exist in profusion – Chinatown._

_But right now I need to get some rest. Tomorrow, I got some calls to make, and then I'll see about my next move._

_Jack looked himself in the mirror. He knew he did not have a pleasant smell on him. But he rinsed his face a bit and then went into the bedroom to crash onto the bed. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep._

* * *

Meanwhile, at Sanderville Heights, Mr. Sanderville sat in his office wearing his bathrobe over his pajamas. He had trouble sleeping, especially with the news coverage of the execution saying that things went horribly wrong. Palmer and Dutch stood before their boss.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Sanderville?" Palmer asked.

"No, nothing that we can't handle," Sanderville said. "Right now I'm wondering if maybe Slate survived."

"Well, Marvin went to go pick up some friends at the escape," Dutch said. "From what I've heard, it seems that Marvin was supposed to run over anybody who wasn't his friend got out."

"Well, if Slate _did_ survive, then that means shit will get even more fucked up," Sanderville said. "I mean I'm not sure if there is more to it than that."

"Slate shouldn't get too far," Palmer said. "He's got nobody to turn to, at least I don't think so."

"That guy killed one of the city's most known crime bosses who was also my protégé," Sanderville said. "That takes a lot of balls and skill. As for Marvin, I'm not sure what that guy will do. One thing I could do is see if one of you guys could handle Slate."

"I would be up for it," Dutch said.

"Wait, Mr. Sanderville, are you sure that's necessary?" Palmer said.

"Why would you ask that?" Sanderville said.

"Well, because it might be bad for our business if we just go and kill an ex-cop like that," Palmer said.

"What the fuck are you talking about? He's convicted murderer, for fuck's sake!" Mr. Sanderville said.

"I'm just saying that it would be better if we went outside the family, that way we don't fuck up our business," Palmer said. Dutch looked at Palmer with so much confusion on his face.

"Good point, Palmer, I've always admired your ways to play it smart," Sanderville said. "I think I'll make a call soon to one of the best assassins in town. I hear she is one ice cold killer, too."

"She?" Dutch said.

"Yes, 'she,'" Sanderville said. "I will call this person now."

* * *

Inside a room at the Starfish Motel, a young white man in his 20s lied in a bed in his underwear. Standing before was a stunningly attractive woman of Chinese descent with a red dye-job in her hair. She was in her black bra and had on a black miniskirt with the waistband of her thong showing, almost like how when a guy sags his pants. This would be the female equivalent to it. She also had red boots on along with long nylons.

"Wow, you are one hot chick," the man. "I mean I've seen some sexy women of your kind at the Black Orchid, but you're something else, lady."

"Oh, I am different from the women at the Black Orchid," the woman said.

"Well, whatever do you mean?" the man said, hinting that he was ready for sex as he was already turned on at the sight of this woman.

The woman slowly unbuttoned her skirt and slowly pulled it off. She climbed into the bed, started crawling in a very seductive fashion and moved really closely to the man. Close enough that she was ready to kiss him.

"You'll soon find out," the woman said seductively, leaning in towards his face, locking her lips to kiss the man. However, the reaction was not what he expected as the young man started choking, convulsing, his eyes rolled back a bit, and started to foam in his mouth. It wasn't long until blood started coming out of his mouth as well.

"I heard that you and some friends raped a woman, but you were the one who lead this terrible action," the woman said. "She was the daughter of a very powerful man."

The woman watched as this guy die right in front of her. She pulled something off of her lips, which signified that the thing on her lips had something connected, like poison. Suddenly, her cellphone rang.

"This is Eve Adams speaking," the woman said. "Ah, the Sandman. How are you doing, Mr. Sanderville? I see. No, I'm not free, but I am available. I will look into this. Just got to give me the right price for the job. Okay, just have one of your men meet me to give me the details and I will do it. Thank you."

Eve looked at her mark as he was now dead on the bed with a smile that was both evil and in a mocking fashion.

"Men, always thinking with your dicks instead of your brains," Eve said. "This was too easy for me."

Eve went and put her miniskirt back on and went to a chair where she had a long red coat hanging. She put it on and only buttoned the top button. She then left the motel room.

"Jack Slate, I see," Eve said. "I think this should be worth it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, what a chapter. For the most part, this was not an easy chapter to write, primarily the part about the prison break. I even had a part in there that I had to take out because I didn't like where it was going. I realized that this story wasn't about breaking out of jail but it was not easy coming up with a plausible way to break out of jail. In the original game, Jack escape through a manhole that was in the showers. But really, you wouldn't find a manhole like that in a shower. So I had to come up with another way.
> 
> Also, the original game had some over-the-top elements, especially one thing involving the warden. Believe me, his fate in that one was pretty crazy.
> 
> I also will note that I have since beaten Dead to Rights: Retribution. Yes, I already knew the story going into it after watching the walkthrough, but it also helped to get an idea for this story. If I am including some elements from that one in my story, it could help matters a bit.
> 
> As for the part with Eve and the deadly kiss, well that was mainly a reference to the movie, "Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins Ball." I wouldn't doubt if the writer for that also took that from "Batman & Robin" with Poison Ivy having those venomous lips. Wouldn't be surprising in the least bit.
> 
> I will continue with this soon.


End file.
